Falling into Chaos
by Warrior of Forest
Summary: Tell the children of Tokyo to be afraid of the dark. Himura Kenshin
1. Shockwaves

A/N: Ah, my first RK fic and the first chapter is a cliffie! I'm pulling this idea from amazing Bakumatsu fics and too much angst. I hope you enjoy!  
  
Falling into Chaos  
  
Timeline: After Mad Geomancer, cmpletely ignores Jinchuu arc. Spoilers: Kyoto arc, Kenshin's past Warning: AU on parts of Kenshin's past, bastardized Yamagata, graphic violence, mild shonen-ai, mental torture, gore, I leave anything out?  
  
Chapter One: Shockwaves  
  
A year had passed in peace for the Kamiya dojo. Yahiko had gotten much better ay Kamiya Kasshin Ryu since inheriting the ougi and was well on his way to becoming a master. Sanosuke continued his freeloading tendencies, but he had moved into an extra room in the Kamiya dojo, since he was there most of the time anyway. Kaoru was exstatic at the number of students she now had. Five more had joined the dojo, making seven, counting Yahiko and Yutaro. The five others were a year younger than Yahiko and still quite unskilled, but their drive was true and they were all coming along well. Of course, they never came at lunchtime. Their drive was not do great as to suffer Kaoru's cooking. Megumi was still the crafty fox lady, throwing her self at Kenshin and drowned in work. Gensai and the girls came over nearly everyday. Tae and Tsubame were doing well and the business at the Akabeko was booming. As for Kenshin, he was still the clumsy rurouni and extremely observant warrior he always had been. He still cooked for the dojo, long having since banned Kaoru from the kitchen, and dealt with everything with his unerring sense of patience. All seemed at peace at the Kamiya dojo. Calm, quiet, serene...  
  
"YAHIKO! GET BACK HERE!"  
  
That is, serene for the Kamiya dojo.  
  
"Nya! Busu! I, Yahiko-sama am too high above practicing with the new babies!" Yahiko crowed as he raced across the yard.  
  
"Ya-hi-ko-chan!" Kaoru articulated, each syllable resonating fury.  
  
"What, Busu?" Yahiko said obnoxiously, while internally quaking with fear.  
  
"Get back in the dojo and show Ryo-kun, Hiro-kun, Tenchi-kun, Nobu-chan and Ran-kun what a true student of Kamiya Kasshin Ryu should act like."  
  
"Hai." Yahiko said quickly and raced back into the dojo, falling into line with the other boys, who naturally hadn't been watching the whole episode. Calmly angry Kaoru was just damn freaky! "Heh!" Kaoru said, bursting into a grin and flashing the victory sign at Kenshin.  
  
Kenshin smiled tolerantly from his place in the shadows. 'They truly are like family.' Kenshin thought with a smile, 'my family.'  
  
"Strike! Strike! Strike!" Kaoru's commands resonated from the dojo, "One hundred more strokes! Faster Ryo! Adjust your hands Tenchi! Step farther out Nobu-chan! Good Yahiko! Nice Ran! More passion Hiro!"  
  
Kenshin smiled and turned away from the dojo, making his way silently down the halls toward the outer courtyard. The wind moved through the trees, rustling the leaves and sending their sweet scent through Kenshin's long, blood red hair. The long summer was turning quietly to fall, the earth changing with the passing season. The days got colder and the nights longer as winter crept around the bend, brushing by to tease the feet left out on cold mornings, a prelude of colder nights to come. Kenshin stood in the middle of the courtyard, breathing in the changing air. Winter would come soon this year, ending the long summer. He smiled at the thought of trying to skate on the frozen river. Last year, Sanosuke had suceeded in an amazing feat, he slide a mile down the river after falling trying to skate two feet. Ayame-chan and Suzume-chan had yet to let him forget it, their childish laughter taking the sting from the memory.  
  
But there was something else in the air. Murmurs of chaos and deaths in towns not far from Tokyo. Fires in Yokohama, a reign of crime in Kyoto. Fear tinged the air with its icy hold.  
  
'I hope whatever this is ends soon. The people deserve peace after the chaos of the last year. Shishio and the geomancers were enough to keep the towns gossip busy for years. I just hope its enough to keep the chaos at bay as well...'  
  
"...shin." A voice called.  
  
"Kenshin!" The same voice called, more insistantly.  
  
"OI! EARTH TO HIMURA KENSHIN! COME IN KENSHIN!"  
  
"ORO!?" Kenshin yelped and leapt a good four feet into the air and caught by strong arms, which were immeadiatly fought.  
  
"Hey! Hey! Kenshin! It's me!"  
  
"Sano?" Kenshin stopped struggling. "Mou! What was that for?"  
  
"You were totally spacing out Kenshin. Ya know its really creepy when you do that!" Sano pouted, defending himself aganist scaring the swordsman. Gently placing Kenshin back on his feet, he spun the smaller man around to face him.  
  
"Kenshin, tell me what's going on."  
  
"Nothing's going on Sano." Kenshin said neutrally, "It's nothing to worry over."  
  
"If it wasn't I could scare you like that." Sano said pointedly.  
  
Kenshin gaped at him. When had Sano learned to read him like that?  
  
"Its nothing of importance." Kenshin said calmly.  
  
Sano's eyes narrowed, "Kenshin...."  
  
"Yet." Kenshin continued. "I'll tell you if it becomes serious. Until then I will not burden you."  
  
Sano's gaze dimmed with sorrow. 'Will you forever hide from us, Kenshin? Must you continue to face these things alone? Is this your atonement?' Sano thought sadly gazing intently into Kenshin's eyes. Sighing he released his hold on Kenshin's shoulders, straightening to his full height. "Alright Kenshin. But you tell us as soon as it gets to 'a little more than nothing' got it!"  
  
"Maa maa.."  
  
"Promise me." Sano said intently.  
  
Kenshin's gaze hardened, his soul shing through as the rurouni mask slipped. "I give you my word. I'll tell you if it becomes a concern."  
  
"Kenshin? Sanosuke?" Kaoru's voice called from the dojo doors. Behind her the six boys were still practicing, improving with each stroke, each time moving a little closer to greatness. "Is something wrong?"  
  
"Nothing at all Kaoru -dono!" Kenshin smiled, mask fully back on. Sano cursed her timing.  
  
"Something's wrong, I can tell." Kaoru said deviously, "Tell me."  
  
"Nothing is wrong Kaoru-dono."  
  
"Kenshin...." Kaoru's tone held a note of warning.  
  
Kenshin held up his hands to ward off the coming tirade and was quite literally saved by the bell, er, knock.  
  
A sharp rap came from outside the door. Sano went to open the dojo gate, revealing the caller.  
  
"You're-" Sano began.  
  
Kaoru looked shocked.  
  
"Yamagata-dono." Kenshin breathed, surprised. By now the boys had stopped their strokes. Another hundred as the punishment was worth seeing Kenshin talk to Yamagata.  
  
In full government attire, Yamagata stood outside the door, backed by his carriage.  
  
"Himura-kun, it has begun."  
  
TBC......  
  
Dun, dun, dun.....Yamagata will have a big role here and the angst is about to role in.  
  
Preview of next chapter:  
  
"A pissed Kenshin. Now that is definitely not something you see every day, and it was damn scary."  
  
Reviews will be used to feed my speedy update mused, flames will be laughed at and sent back to burn your butt courtesy of Shishio.  
  
Shishio: *evil grin*  
  
WoF: Down boy, bad evil muse! 


	2. Epicenter

A/N Wow, next chapter up next day! Wow! R and R please!  
  
Things are heating up now!  
  
Disclaimer: When I own it, I'll be sitting pretty in Tokyo, until then, students are like failed Yakuza, we have no money, so don't sue.  
  
Chapter 2: Epicenter  
  
Kenshin's face drained of all color. The red of his hair standing in stark relief to his pale skin.  
  
"When de gozaru ka?" Kenshin asked breathlessly.  
  
"Last night, it hit Tokyo. We must stop it now, before it is too late!" Yamagata said insistently, hand clenched in a fist. "Himura! We need you to stop this! You cannot ignore it any further! You're ideal world cannot be achieved yet!"  
  
Kenshin's eyes were downcast, hair framing his face from view. "I know. I had only hoped that they would stop."  
  
"Kenshin..." Sano breathed. Kaoru looked on confused, the boys in the dojo dead silent at the tension in the air.  
  
"Himura, you must come through on your promise. You must use your skills for the Meiji era once more!" Yamagata reached out and grabbed Kenshin's shoulders, shaking the smaller man harshly. "Himura! We need you to bring in the new age!" Kenshin tensed under his hands, eyes flashing at the implication. "We need your sword to once more rein down Heaven's Justice on- "  
  
"DON'T FUCK WITH ME!" Kenshin yelled, breaking away from Yamagata's grasp, eyes blazing amber in fury, promising destruction to his enemies.  
  
"Himura-" Yamagata began  
  
"No!" Kenshin roared, eyes roaring with amber fire, "I won't let you use me again! Never again!"  
  
A pissed Kenshin. Now that is definitely not something you see every day, and it was damn scary.  
  
"Himura!" Yamagata slapped Kenshin across the face. Kenshin's head snapped up in shock, the others in the courtyard stopped dead in shock. "We never used you! Your sword brought in the new age!"  
  
Kenshin's eyes blazed with new fury, "What new age! Those people died, and for what!? This era!"  
  
"Yes Himura." Yamagata said calmly, trying to sooth the angry assassin, "for the era where children can play in the street and wars and murder are headlines in their rarity not common occurrence."  
  
Kenshin glared at the man and turned sharply away. "Find someone else to go your dirty work. My hands are far too stained to be of any use to a new age."  
  
"You're wrong." Yamagata said calmly, "Kenshin!" he yelled to get the swordsman attention. Kenshin turned at the mention of his name. "Take these." Kenshin glared at the bundle held in Yamagata's arms. A navy gi, gray hakama and a true bladed katana. "Think about it, please Kenshin!" Kenshin glared and spun away, stalking toward the courtyard.  
  
Yamagata sighed and placed the bundle down at the door. Turning to Kaoru and Sanosuke, he sighed. "Talk to him, this will cause a war if he doesn't help us."  
  
"You bastard!" Sano roared, "you can't ask him to-"  
  
"We'll talk to him." Kaoru cut in, "But not to force him to kill." Yamagata looked at Kaoru with new respect, she was stronger than she seemed. "Please leave Yamagata-san."  
  
Yamagata looked once more toward the tense figure in the courtyard before turning to his carriage. The dojo door closed behind him.  
  
Sano reached out a hand towards Kenshin, "Oi, Kenshin!" He said softly. Kenshin pushed past him but Sano grabbed his wrist. "Damnit Kenshin!"  
  
Kenshin spun and delivered a swift kick to Sano's side. Shocked and winded, Sano released the swordsman.  
  
"Kenshin!" Kaoru breathed. Yahiko just gaped. "Ryo, Hiro, Nobu, Ran." She said tersely, "go home for today."  
  
"Yes ma'am." The said as they scrambled for the exit, happy to leave the tension behind.  
  
"Damn you Kenshin." Sano said hoarsely, he never had thought the swordsman would have such a strong kick!  
  
"Leave me alone, Sano." Kenshin said sternly.  
  
"Kenshin!" Kaoru began. Kenshin raised a hand in her direction, "No Kaoru! Be quiet!" He commanded.  
  
This was not the gentle Rurouni standing before them, this was the fierce warrior once called Hitokiri Battousai. Eyes of cold amber, manners of a rock and nature enough to silence the loudest mouth in town. Body strung with tension, Kenshin whipped out his sword and leapt straight into the advanced forms of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu.  
  
All the others could do was watch as Kenshin raced through the forms of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu with an almost insane ferocity.  
  
'This is Battousai..' Kaoru thought, 'has he always been there, hiding behind a smile?'  
  
Kenshin spun around the courtyard, throwing out Ryuu Sho Sen in rapid succession. Moving around like a red demon, never halting.  
  
'Damn, Damn, damn!' Yahiko thought, 'Kenshin's scary like this, almost like the demon in the stories.'  
  
Kenshin roared out his rage as he soared into the sky and slammed down into a Ryu Tsui Sen. The ground exploded with dust and was quickly spun away by a furious Kuzu Ryu Sen.  
  
'Kenshin....' Sano thought sadly, 'Why won't you tell us what's going on? You always help us out, save us from harm, so why can't we help you?'  
  
Kenshin's mind was in chaos as he raced through the moves with brutal speed and masochistic succession. 'I can't kill again! I can't!'  
  
You must  
  
'I can't!'  
  
It's the only way  
  
'No! There has to be another way! Killing is not the answer!'  
  
What has not killing gotten you? Kaoru in danger, Yahiko captured, Shishio plaguing Japan!  
  
'No no no! Shut up Battousai! I won't listen to you anymore!'  
  
And Sano! You claim to care about him and you didn't even kill Saitou when he almost killed him and left him to bleed on the floor!  
  
'No!'  
  
Yes  
  
'There has to be another way!'  
  
Kenshin's moves became erratic. He was simply hurling himself around the courtyard in a mockery of control, his mind in chaos.  
  
There is no other way  
  
Kaoru, Yahiko and Sano watched with morbid fascination as there laundry doing, playful friend whirled around in the torment of his mind.  
  
'No...'  
  
Look at them! They're afraid, afraid of you, and afraid of what will come  
  
'Afraid?'  
  
Will you condemn them to death for your pathetic oath?  
  
'Death? No!'  
  
Then do it! Stop the war before its too late!  
  
Kenshin came to an abrupt halt in the middle of the courtyard, chest heaving from his exertion. His friends quickly rushed up to him, stopping at the insane look in his eyes. Kenshin straightened and looked them in the eye. His face was open, his eyes tinged with violet, his scarred and battered soul on his display.  
  
"Kenshin...." Sano breathed, quickly moving to embrace the smaller man, lifting him off his feet to forestall any further exertion.  
  
"There's no other way..." Kenshin said softly into Sano chest, "But why?"  
  
"Kenshin?" Sano said concerned.  
  
"Battousai is right, it must be done, for the future."  
  
TBC...  
  
Coming soon: Chapter 3: The Return of Battousai!  
  
Reviews make the speed muse happy!  
  
Rei: Speed good....  
  
WoF: -_-6 Okaay...... 


	3. The Return of Battousai

A/N Poor Kenshin! I keep hurting him! Yamagata is really evil to be forcing Kenshin to do this.....*sob*  
  
Shishio=Pain is good.....  
  
WoF=-_-;; Shut up  
  
Rei=Speed?  
  
WoF=Why me?  
  
Onward and pastward!  
  
Chapter 3: The Return of Battousai  
  
"Battousai is right, it must be done, for the future."  
  
"Kenshin..." Sano breathed  
  
"Kenshin!" Kaoru yelled out, rushing forward to the pair, "what were you thinking!? You could have killed yourself carrying on like that!" Kaoru's anger dissipated and lightly whacked the top of his head, "you....you idiot!"  
  
Yahiko looked at the scene in utter horror. His idol, the calm, patient and eternally strong Kenshin had broken down in front of his very eyes. But shock soon was replaced by anger, the righteous anger of the honorable samurai of old. "Kenshin." He said quietly, "we won't let him have you. I'll fight him if I have to!" He cried the last, pulling out his bokken.  
  
Kenshin lifted his head from Sano's chest and moved away as Sano reluctantly let go, still standing near enough to catch him again if necessary. Kenshin smiled at Yahiko, the sweet smile that he only so often let out. Not the rurouni's smile, not Battousai's smirk, but Kenshin's gentle smile.  
  
"Thank you Yahiko." Kenshin turned away, "I'm going to see Yamagata."  
  
The others looked at him in shock, was all that for naught?  
  
"Kenshin, omae-" Sano began.  
  
"Don't worry Sano. I'm only going to talk."  
  
"But Kenshin!" Yahiko said stridently.  
  
Kenshin smiled at him once more. "I must find out the extent of the situation to determine the proper course of action." Yahiko blinked. This was the mindset that got Kenshin through the Bakumatsu. This calculating thought pattern that left nothing to chance.  
  
Kenshin stepped forward to leave, but Kaoru reached out a hand and caught the sleeve of his gi in an iron grip. "Kenshin, don't leave again."  
  
Kenshin's eyes darkened in sorrow. "I'll be back tonight."  
  
"If you go off again without telling us I'll follow you again and drag you back by your ear!" Sano threatened, covering his anxiety.  
  
"You'd get lost." Kenshin said gently, humour in his eyes.  
  
"Omae....." Sano growled, Kaoru and Yahiko stared and dissolved into laughter. "I'll get a map first and then follow you and drag you back!"  
  
Kenshin smiled at him, a genuine smile that spoke of ages and vast experience. In her laughter, Kaoru had released his sleeve unknowingly.  
  
"I'll be back." Kenshin said, and vanished. Sano, Kaoru and Yahiko stared at the space Kenshin had been standing in.  
  
"Damn that god speed!" Sano growled.  
  
Kaoru and Yahiko shared the sentiment, but in less caustic terms.  
  
"Ah!" Yahiko cried sharply.  
  
"What?" Kaoru said, corncerned.  
  
"He took it!"  
  
"Took what?" Kaoru asked, puzzled.  
  
"That bundle from Yamagata, he took it with him!" Yahiko elaborated, shocked and horrified.  
  
Sano and Kaoru exchanged foreboding looks, only hoping that Kenshin, their Kenshin, would return to them that night.  
  
********  
  
"Who are you?" The Guard at the gate of the government headquarters asked none to kindly. "A boy ain't supposed to be hanging around here!" "I'm here to see Yamagata." Kenshin said tersely. "And I'm no boy."  
  
"Oh, a *teenager* then?" The guard drawled, obviously enjoying this.  
  
Kenshin closed his eyes, warding off feelings of frustration. It was hard enough to come here at all! Why must I deal with these guards!  
  
"Uh, sir?" The junior guard at the elders side said softly, "Sir, I think that sir should let him in sir."  
  
"Oh? And whys that Kenji?" The elder guard asked sharply, staring down at the teen.  
  
"Because I don't think we should make him mad sir..."  
  
"Eh?" The elder guard looked back at Kenshin incredulously, "this shrimp?"  
  
"I am no shrimp." Kenshin said, anger coursing through his voice. "Now step aside!"  
  
"Sir...."  
  
"Who are you?" The elder guard asked, now suspicious. Kenshin's eyes snapped up at him, yellow infernos radiating rage and despair.  
  
"Hitokiri Battousai."  
  
The guard jumped away in horror, pulling out his gun and trainiing it on the hitokiri. "Stay back! I don't know what you want but you better just walk away." He attempted to sound threatening, but the fact that his knees were shaking canceled out that effect. The younger guard plastered himself aganist the wall, terror claiming his young features.  
  
Kenshin's eyes dimmed in sorrow, returning to violet. "You are afriad."  
  
"Like hell we are!"  
  
"Step aside de gozaru." Kenshin said, and without another word, flashed up to the guard, knocked the gun from his hands and entered the building.  
  
The young guard, Kenji, looked after his retreatig figure. "It's so sad, he's such a kind man."  
  
"Kind?" The elder guard asked incredulously, "Kenji, you better get your perceptions checked! That man is a monster!"  
  
"No, you're wrong." Kenji said softly. "I was afraid of him because of what I've heard in the stories, but after seeing his eyes, I know he's not like that. He's kind and gentle and he carries so much pain." "I don't give a damn about his 'pain'. He's a killer, he deserves our contempt."  
  
"Perhaps, perhaps not. Either way, he is a good man." Kenji said, sitting beside his superior.  
  
"Kenji, you see him with the new era eyes. I've been in the Bakumatsu, I know what kind of man that takes."  
  
"He was a monster then perhaps, but now, now I think its different. If an era can change, why not a man?"  
  
The elders man reached over to ruffle Kenji's hair, "Kenji, keep thinking that." He turned to the door, looking after the Battousai. 'Perhaps Kenji was right, maybe he can change? He didn't kill us, and he could of.....why didn't he? We had the gall to piss of Battousai and we still live to tell the tale? Incredible. Maybe, just maybe Kenji is right....either that or we both need a trip to the doctor....'  
  
*******  
  
".....and that's why we should increase trade to the US."  
  
Clapping was heard behind the door as the speaker finished his speech on US trade. Kenshin stood outside the door, hand lightly resting on the handle. As soon as the clapping died down, he pushed open the door, steeled his resolve and stepped forward into the room.  
  
Gasps were heard from the surprise at the intrusion.  
  
"Hey! Kid! You can't come in here!" One of the politicians cried out.  
  
"Guar-" Another called, but was cut off by a hand held up by Yamagata.  
  
"I see you've come Himura-kun."  
  
"Aa." Kenshin said softly, but sternly. Looking up to stare into Yamagata's eyes.  
  
"You have changed your mind?" Yamagata said slowly, trying to hold back the hope from his voice.  
  
"Yes." Kenshin said, holding up the bundle, "I have decided that these will come in handy."  
  
"Thank you, Himura."  
  
"Yamagata-san, who is the kid?" The politician who had nearly called the guard asked.  
  
"Gentlemen!" Yamagata said, standing and placing an arm on Kenshin's slim shoulder. "This is the hope of our country, the man who will stop this war!" The men in the room were Yamagata's most trusted advisors and friends, and as such he dared to reveal the truth to them. "As you all know, the movements of the old Shinsengumi are causing trouble all over Japan! They have picked up supporters in the highest rankings of the government and are moving to start a counter revolution and bring back Tokugawa Ieyasu! We cannot let that be realized! Himura Kenshin, known as Hitokiri Battousai will once more be taking up his sword to fight for us! Welcome him as our savior!"  
  
Applause once more shook the room, men cried out there faith in the former hitokiri once more turning to death. "Stop." Kenshin commanded softly and the applause ceased. "I am a killer, I need no praise for destroying lives."  
  
Kenshin turned and walked toward the door, "You know where to find me. Send an envelope with the target information."  
  
"Kenshin! This is Meiji, we wil discuss the targets in meetings, which you will attend."  
  
"No." Kenshin said, eyes a dark yellow ringed with violet. "No, this is no different. I'll take orders the same way. My view is still the same, I want no praise or recognition. I care not for being in history." With that statement, Kenshin turned and shut the door behind him, moving toward the sunlight once more.  
  
"Yamagata-san?" His assistant asked, "Is this alright?"  
  
"Yes, yes, this is fine." Yamagata said sadly. 'I'm sorry Himura-kun, but there is no other way.....'  
  
********  
  
Kenshin arrived at the walls of the Kamiya dojo just as the sun was setting. He could hear Yahiko and Kaoru fighting and Sano complaining about the empty state of his stomach. 'So pure and so kind....I don't belong here anymore. I never did.'  
  
With a sigh, Kenshin leapt over the wall and silently made his way into his room. Closing the screen behind him, he turned from the kitchens warm light and moved to the sword rack on the wall.  
  
"So this is the end," Kenshin whispered to himself. "The end of my foolish dream."  
  
Kenshin pulled the Sakabatou from his hakama and placed it on the wall with reluctance. Slowly he turned away from his weapon of choice since the Bakumatsu and stripped out of his clothes. Body bathed in the red sunlight, he folded the pink gi and white hakama, placing them to the side of the rack. With great reluctance, he unfolded the bundle he had carried all day. Pulling out the gray hakama, he slid them over his pale legs and tied the complicated knot around his waist. Bending once more, he retrieved the navy blue gi and slid it over his arms, tying it at the waist. Pulling his hair band out, he gathered his blood red hair into a top knot and secured it with the black band. All that remained was the killing blade at his feet.  
  
'So this'll end everything...'  
  
Kenshin reached down and grabbed the blade in white knuckled hands.  
  
'No turning back now....'  
  
Kenshin placed the sword in his hakama, eyes burning amber.  
  
'Goodbye....Kenshin.'  
  
To Be Continued......  
  
Review or 'Chapter 4: A Promise Thrown to Chaos' will take very long indeed.....  
  
Thanks to my wonderful reviewers: Miriya, Holly, Arteme, Lady Winged Knight,Xxoro-chanxX and RBC1726!!!! Love you guys! 


	4. A Promise Thrown to Chaos

A/N Sorry for the delay! I've been stranded with no internet all week! *sob*! This has been gone over many, many times! Hope you like!  
  
Shameless plug: PS Mind Control: next chapter coming soon, it'll make you go: awww.....  
  
Purity: working on it.....  
  
Disclaimer: If you sue me, I'll send my Battousai on you!  
  
Batt-kun: Er.....*raises sword*  
  
'Kenshin's thoughts'  
  
Battousai's thoughts  
  
Chapter 4: A Promise Thrown to Chaos  
  
Bathed in red sunlight, the warrior known as Himura Kenshin met his end. Dying with the suns light, he watched in sorrow as his time set on the world and Hitokiri Battousai rose again to haunt the shadows as night descended once more on the changing world.  
  
But, the sounds in the kitchen, sounds of light and laughter remained. A presence of normalcy in a life thrown into oblivion. Setting his resolve, the warrior turned and silently left the room, a haunting presence behind a cool facade.  
  
Stopping outside the screen, Battousai listened to the antics of Kenshin's friends.  
  
"Mou, jou-chan! I like my teeth in one piece!" Sano complained, biting into a large, round, black *thing*.  
  
"If you don't like my ohagi you can leave and find your own food." Kaoru said with the air of a woman scorned.  
  
"HAH!" Yahiko crowed at Sano's expense, biting into his own ohagi. A moments wait as Kaoru looked on expectantly. "Ow..." Yahiko moaned and spit out the ohagi. "Busu! You tried to break my teeth!"  
  
"Well if you guys don't want to eat my cooking you can make your own!" Kaoru roared, affronted.  
  
"Fine! We will!" Sano and Yahiko said in unison, moving to stand up.  
  
"In the forest over a fire." Kaoru finished. Sano and Yahiko promptly sat back down.  
  
"Aww...." Yahiko moaned.  
  
"If I wasn't so hungry I'd value my teeth!" Sano groaned.  
  
"Oh?" Kaoru asked, brandishing the spoon, "And you could do better?"  
  
"Yea!" Yahiko said, jumping to his feet, "we could!"  
  
"Jo-chan! Hand that over!" Sano roared, laughter in his eyes taking any malice away as he and Yahiko closed in on Kaoru.  
  
"No! It's my spoon!" Kaoru cried.  
  
"Hand it over ugly! You can't even use it!"  
  
"Yea, give it 'ere!"  
  
Kenshin silently laughed outside the screen.  
  
'They're rather immature aren't they?'  
  
It's pathetic Battousai commented  
  
'But they wouldn't be them without it!'  
  
Oh, Shut up!  
  
Battousai silently slide open the door and sat at the corner of the table watching Sano, Yahiko and Kaoru argue over the spoon. They were completely unaware of his presence.  
  
Battousai cast his eyes to the heavens in annoyance. If I were out to kill them, they'd be dead already.  
  
Looking back up, Kenshin saw that the ohagi were about to catch on fire and the rowers had absolutely no idea that their dinner was about to go up in smoke and flame. Sighing, Kenshin rose up to his feet and moved like a shadow to the stove, shutting off the flame.  
  
"Watch what you're doing next time. You could burn the dojo down." Kenshin said.  
  
"Eh?" Kaoru said surprised, "Kenshin! You're back!" She moved to throw her arms around him, but stopped at the sight of the man before her. Framed by the bloody sunset, his flame colored hair seemed to be a bloody aura surrounding him, almost as if he were an angel of death. Dressed in the uniform of Choushuu, he truly looked the Bakumatsu warrior he was, but it was the eyes that halted her exuberance. Amber slits glaring out from beneath dark lashes and bloody bangs. Cold eyes, murders eyes.  
  
The Kamiya dojo occupants could only look in shock at the man that stood in front of them, a mockery of their Kenshin. A fearsome and brutal mockery of his kindness and sincerity. Kenshin closed his eyes in sorrow, 'just like the guards at the government building, their afraid of me....'  
  
no, they're afraid of me.  
  
'You are me'  
  
can you be sure of that?  
  
"I won't harm you." Battousai muttered, breaking out of his internal dialogue to stop the rurouni's response, chagrined at the fear he saw in their faces.  
  
"Kenshin...." Sano started softly, "what happened back there?"  
  
"I cut a deal with death." Kenshin said simply, "to once more sell my soul for the cause."  
  
Yahiko was paralyzed by the sight of Kenshin. The gentle man of his youthful trust was gone, replaced by the warrior he had only seen battle Saitou. This was the true Battousai. Fierce, merciless and still looking about fifteen.  
  
'Yahiko's afraid' Kenshin's voice spoke in Battousai's head, colored in sorrow. Battousai was angered by the dejection in his gentle half's voice. Only he could cause him pain!  
  
"I'll say it again." Kenshin said tersely, looking down at Yahiko, "changing my clothes won't make me harm you." With a last affronted expression, the swordsman spun and left the room.  
  
"Woah.....what the hell was that!?" Yahiko asked sharply, fear hardening his voice.  
  
"That was Battousai, the man Kenshin tried to eradicate from the past." Kaoru stated.  
  
"The one who haunts children's dreams and plagues Kenshin's mind." Sano mentioned softly, bowing his head in empathetic sorrow, 'he doesn't deserve this.' Sano thought, 'No one does! And least of all Kenshin!'  
  
With that said, Sano spun from the room and followed the errant rurouni, leaving a startled and frightened Meiji generation behind.  
  
Staring out to the courtyard, Kaoru and Yahiko saw Sano slowly walk toward Kenshin. Kenshin's head was bowed and sorrow in his eyes.  
  
"He's the same..." Kaoru whispered, struck by the moment, the ruthless facade of Battousai shattered, "Battousai or rurouni, he's still Kenshin. Still pure and kind, even if Battousai will kill." "He doesn't enjoy it." Yahiko finished.  
  
Amber eyes or not, this was still their Kenshin, and as such they should be ashamed to be afraid. Nodding to each other, Kaoru and Yahiko raced out to Sano and Kenshin.  
  
******  
  
Kenshin stood by the dojo wall, hands clenched into angry fists. Was he angry at his friends? No. He was angry at himself, for fulfilling their worst nightmares.  
  
'I am their wort nightmare....'  
  
and their only hope is that you turn your back on your precious *ideals* and fight a true fight for once! Enough with this pathetic "I do not wish to kill de gozaru". Wake up Kenshin!  
  
"..shin" A voice filtered through.  
  
'Demo...'  
  
"Kenshin!" Sano's voice broke the internal dialogue, surprising the rurouni back to the surface. Violet eyes wide with shock and pain stared up into Sano's intense chocolate gaze.  
  
Sano's heart broke at the sight of the small swordsman's eyes, this was really tearing him apart, his mind itself in shatters. "Hey Kenshin."  
  
"Sano." Kenshin said softly, acknowledging his presence.  
  
"Sorry 'bout that back there...." Sano said sheepishly, hand behind his head. "You kind of surprised us you know."  
  
"You didn't expect sessha to ever fulfill the legends of Battousai." Kenshin said dejectedly.  
  
"No!" Sano cried out, grabbing Kenshin's shoulders, "That's not it at all!"  
  
"But it is, because the legends are true." Kenshin said softly, avoiding Sano's gaze.  
  
"I don't care about that." Sano said, lifting Kenshin's chin to meet his eyes, "It was the look in your eyes, the cold indifference and the pain."  
  
"Wha?" Kenshin breathed, surprised at the answer.  
  
"Kenshin, I-" Sano began.  
  
"KENSHIN!" Kaoru and Yahiko's voice's broke through the moment, "Kenshin, come back!"  
  
"Kaoru-dono, Yahiko!" Kenshin exclaimed softly, surprised.  
  
Hmph! They have more backbone than I thought... Battousai contemplated.  
  
"Kenshin, we're so sorry!' Kaoru exclaimed breathlessly, clinging to his gi, "You startled us that's all."  
  
"Yea, those eyes are creepy!" Yahiko blurted out, then looked away embarrassed.  
  
Kenshin blinked, then laughed, violet eyes sparkling. "Yea, kinda like Saitou's eyes, ne?"  
  
"Saitou!? Nah man, his eyes aren't even worthy of being compared to yours! He's evil, through and through!" Sano said huffily, "He's a crazy bastard."  
  
"Kenshin, do you forgive us?" Kaoru asked softly, hoping for the best, yet fearing the worst.  
  
Kenshin gave her a soft smile, violet eyes warm with compassion. "Of course Kaoru-dono."  
  
And they smiled back at him.  
  
"Himura!" A voice called from outside the gate, "message!"  
  
"Oro?" Kenshin exclaimed, walking to the door and sliding it open.  
  
A man in military uniform greeted him, black hair and eyes giving him a fierce expression.  
  
"I am a messenger from Yamagata-kyo."  
  
"I see..." Kenshin said softly, head bowed. His friends looked on, wondering what was going on.  
  
"I have an envelope for you, I trust all is included." He stuck out a tanned hand clasping a black envelope.  
  
Kenshin's eyes dimmed in sorrow. 'No....not now...' Kenshin cried internally.  
  
Shut up! You agreed to this!  
  
Battousai's hand reached out and slowly clasped the envelope in his slender white fingers.  
  
"Please open it and say if all is in order." At Battousai's fiercely questioning gaze, he continued, "I must report to Yamagata-kyo as soon as you have read the terms."  
  
"I understand." Battousai said and opened the small black envelope, and was transported to the past. He remembered when he had been assigned his job of Hitokiri by Katsura, and how he had been slipped black envelopes just like these before each assignment.  
  
Kenshin pulled out the paper. In red letters on black paper was: name: Kazutaka Yasashiku occupation: head weapons manufacturer for the rebel army physical description: Tall, dark hair, grey eyes, late 40's place: sunset shrine, he should be coming out the back path after his prayer session time: nine tonight  
  
Another one seeking redemption for his crimes  
  
'While he continues them...'  
  
Kenshin's eyes blazed yellow and the hitokiri rose again. "It's all in order."  
  
The messenger quailed at the empty yellow eyes. A play on the gentle violet of before. When I he had first come, he couldn't comprehend this gentle man being the fierce hitokiri. Now, he knew differently.  
  
"Very well," the messenger replied, swallowing his fear, "I'll report back to Yamagata."  
  
"Oh, one more thing." Battousai called out.  
  
"What is it sir?"  
  
"Tell the children of Tokyo to be afraid of the dark."  
  
Amber eyes glowed from beneath bloody bangs as the messenger scurried away. His friends could only watch as their Kenshin slipped farther and farther away.  
  
Battousai stared down at the black envelope.  
  
nine tonight, ka? Battousai looked up at the bloody sunset, slowly being claimed by nights darkness. Lifting the black envelope to eye level, he tossed it into the slowly black and red sky. Pulling out his katana in a flash of deadly speed, he sliced the envelope into tiny pieces, concealing the message inside to obscurity. The dying sunlight glinted off his blade as amber eyes snapped open to stare into its shining depths.  
  
mission accepted.  
  
TBC.....In Chapter 5: The First Mission 


	5. The First Mission

A/N....the First Mission....poor Kenshin, I torture him so...  
  
Kenshin: Oro?  
  
WoF: *hands him chapter*  
  
Kenshin: *faints*  
  
Onward and angstward!  
  
Chapter 5: The First Mission  
  
Battousai stalked through the quiet city, eyes taking in every movement, shadow and flash of ki. His mind was on hyper alert, watching for anything, anything at all that might have caught on to him.  
  
~~~~~~  
  
An assassins blade whipped of the night's darkness, cutting a hiss in the silence of a hellish land.  
  
counter! His mind screamed as his blade blocked the blow.  
  
ATTACK! His mind insisted and he complied, shooting through the air to seek the kill.  
  
Chains caught him off guard, wrapping around his slender frame.  
  
Regain mobility! Eliminate! Kenshin's mind assessed ruthlessly.  
  
The chains slacked as the assassin rushed forward, eager to gain the glory of killing the almighty dragon god, the Battousai of nightmares and dreams.  
  
Now. Battousai's mind slipped into the cold grasp of battle. The fire headed warrior turned the assassins own blade against him, felling him in two. mission complete  
  
A gasp wrenched his consciousness back from bloodlust.  
  
what?!  
  
'It's her....' The blade slipped from lifeless fingers.  
  
eliminate witness  
  
'No!' The vision a of white plum goddess broke him from his revere.  
  
"You make the bloody rain fall."  
  
~~~~~~  
  
Kenshin shook his head to clear the vision. This was no time to delve into the past. Later, when the war was over, he would atone for his sins and rid the world of Battousai, forever.  
  
******  
  
Kazutaka Yasashiku stood in the midst of his fine garden. Years in the weaponry business had reaped their rewards. The man was wealthy, almost exceedingly so. However, the man had preserved his heart, thanks to one small life.  
  
He had always enjoyed the garden, but as of late the garden seemed to emblazon a false sense of serenity. Ever since agreeing to aid the rebel Shinsengumi, Yasashiku had been unable to rest at ease. Dreams of blood plagued his sleep and nightmares of guilt riled his days. His stern features showed the signs of wear, and his light gray eyes had lost their luster beneath dull black hair. The lines deepened on his face, making him appear older, laughter turned to tears on guilt's blade.  
  
'What is causing this unease?' Yasashiku contemplated, 'I have done naught wrong, only sold weapons to customers.' Even as he thought this, a voice in the back of his head whispered that it was done out of greed, that he had been allured of the sheer money and honor he would attain when the movement went through. His beloved child would be a woman of prestige and grace, of want for naught. But his mind would not rest, questioning, always questioning. Would he sacrifice the nation for a few yen?  
  
"Father?" A gentle voice called out, "Father, are you out there?"  
  
Yasashiku's features softened as his eyes alighted on his only daughter. Her mother, bless her soul, had died in childbirth, but had left him this precious gift to raise and love. When he had first lain eyes on her fragile features, his heart had soared with joy and hope. He named her Aiko, for she was his beloved one, his only daughter. As such, he had brought his daughter up with the greatest care and spared no expense to bring her all her hearts desires. Sheltered from pain, his daughter grew pure and untainted. She had always been his light and he her support. Now, in the recent chaos, Yasashiku found himself desiring her presence even more, to calm his tormented heart.  
  
"I'm here Aiko." He called out gently.  
  
"Father! There you are!" Aiko cried happily, her fine silk kimono casting blue light on her pale features. The night had descended and all that lit the garden was the lanterns golden light. The shadows served to make her features even more exotic and lovely than usual. Her pale skin awash with joy and radiance. The fine blue and purple flowered kimono hugged her slender frame. She would be a heartbreaker, his little star. She was indeed a star, a light in an otherwise blank sea of cold and despair. The one thing that had held him back from falling into death to join his wife. To mix her blood of giving with his life's devotion. But those eyes had captivated him, and now their pure brilliance delighted his eyes and his heart.  
  
"What is it my child?" He asked kindly, drawing her into an embrace.  
  
She relaxed into his arms, inhaling the scent that was uniquely her father: gunpowder, smoke, air, water and earth. He had been her strength and support all her young life. For fifteen years he had catered to her every need and want, all fulfilled with deep love. Aiko could not imagine life without him by her side.  
  
"Father, a message came for you."  
  
"Oh?" He asked surprised, "and what did it say my child?"  
  
"It said that Yuki-san wishes for your presence at the Sunset shrine after first sundown to discuss matters of recent business." She recited, proud to help her father.  
  
Yasashiku's eyes darkened. If the boss of the man you sell the weapons to wants to see you immediately, it is either a very good, or a very bad sign. He believed the latter.  
  
Aiko noticed her father's despair at the messages news.  
  
"Father?" She asked softly, "are you well? Did I upset you?"  
  
Her sweet question brought him out of his musings, "No my dearest," He replied gently, staring down into her silver blue eyes set against the most beautiful of hair; a strange yet enticing mix of light brown and black, a deep brown that was almost red, framing light eyes, a fuse of himself and his wife, Etsu. "Nothing you do could ever bring me sadness."  
  
Aiko's face softened in relief. She couldn't stand the thought of bringing him pain. She would die to prevent his suffering, kill to ease his heart."Will you be going Father?" She asked sadly, anticipating the loss of their dinner and music session together.  
  
"Yes, I must cut our time together short today." He said apologetically, "I'll be back before too late, but don't wait up." He tapped her nose affectionately, knowing that was the one request she would never grant.  
  
"I'll sleep when I know you are safe Father." Aiko replied evenly, gazing adoringly at her Father.  
  
Smiling indulgently, Yasashiku embraced his daughter and turned to leave, calling over his shoulder, "See you soon, Aiko."  
  
"Goodbye Father, I love you." Aiko replied, as per their ritual. They never left each other without saying those words, in case it was the last time they were to see each other. "I know dearest Aiko, I love you with all my soul."  
  
And with that parting passage, Yasashiku swept out of their home and into the nights cold embrace.  
  
********  
  
Kenshin swept silently through the blackened night. The moon, bathed in a red glow, hid behind the clouds, afraid to show its face to the bloodstained hearts below. And yet, Kenshin was not saddened by the moons rejection, rather he welcomed it with open arms, willing it to pass judgement on his soul. He reached the white marble staircase of the sunset shrine with two hours left to spare before the appointed meeting time. He ducked into the enclave of a nearby shop, now closed for the night, and observed the situation.  
  
The shrine sat atop a steep hill and was reached by climbing the white marble stairs and walking through a red arch. The steps were marble so that, as the name implied, the sunset could be captured in all its might. At dusk, the stairs shone with yellow light that darkened to red and then to ethereal blue as the night progressed. There was a legend surrounding the shrine that the souls of the damned rose up through the bloody light and lingered about the steps at night. Whether one believed it or not, there was no denying the chill one got when climbing the midnight stairs.  
  
'A perfect place for me.' Kenshin thought solemnly, staring at the blue light reflected on the stairs, 'I've damned my own soul and gone to join my comrades.'  
  
oh, get over it! Battousai shouted in his mind stop angsting and get on with it! Do you want us both to get killed?!  
  
'I..'  
  
Incompetent. Battousai huffed.  
  
'I do not wish to kill him....'  
  
Fool. You follow orders to prevent chaos, isn't that right?  
  
'Yes!....But, what if he isn't evil?'  
  
Would he be selling weapons to the Shinsengumi if he were an idealistic pansy like you?  
  
'Well, no, but'  
  
But nothing!  
  
'Bat-' Get over it! Your ideals are nothing compared to the worth of the world. Live with it, kill with. Get over it.  
  
'Battousai.....'  
  
Move it! I'm taking control now! Now is the time for battle, you can come pick flowers later just like the idealistic fool you are.  
  
Kenshin's eyes flashed amber as the blue light of the damned clashed with the red of the assassin's moon. Battousai was back in control, Kenshin locked away to only watch as his ideal was shattered.  
  
********  
  
Yasashiku walked silently up the blue stairs to the Sunset Shrine. He knew the legends, and now he believed them. He couldn't shake the feeling of being watched, and that his soul was on trial and his worth up for grabs.  
  
Yasashiku shivered as he crossed through the arch to the main yard of the shrine. It was deserted now, Yuki had cleared the monks out for the night, threatening death should his business be interrupted and Yuki Raidon was a man well used to getting his way.  
  
Yasashiku halted at the sight of the man before him, frozen in his cold glare. Raidon's eyes were cold and red, eyes of a possessed soul. Hair of the blackest night flew around his face, framing its sharp edges and emblazoning his demonic features. He was tall in stature and lean in build, radiating power like a man who had no fear. And Yuki Raidon was one of those fearless men.  
  
"Yuki-sama." Yasahiku said shakily, bowing deeply to break the gaze of those demon eyes.  
  
"Yasashiku." Raidon said sharply, demeaning him with the reference.  
  
Yasashiku slowly rose up to his full height. While taller than Yuki, Yasashiku couldn't help but feel slighted by the sheer power the man held at his disposal, the fear he implanted, and the respect.  
  
"Yuki-sama, why have you called me here?" Yasashiku said respectfully.  
  
Raidon raised an eyebrow. "To comment on the weather."  
  
Yasashiku nearly fell flat on his face. "Surely you jest, my Lord."  
  
"Aa." Raidon said, sly smile in place. "Why give a serious answer to a stupid question?"  
  
"My Lord?" Yasashiku asked sheepishly, 'I screwed up already?' He thought helplessly, 'I'm dead!' "Half wit. You are our weapons dealer, are you not?"  
  
"Why, yes my Lord. It is my honor and-" Yasashiku stammered  
  
"Yea, yea, I know. Calm down. I want to discuss our arrangement, that's all." Raidon said, raising an elegant eyebrow at the other man's obvious discomfiture.  
  
"You honor me my Lord." Yasashiku said humbly. Floored that the leader of the movement would meet with him in person. It was an honor few had known, yet all who had were left with lasting impressions of sadistic humor.  
  
"Yasashiku, you have been supplying the Shinsengumi with weapons in the forms of blades, knives and shuriken these past months." Raidon began, obviously going somewhere with this.  
  
'Somewhere good,' Yasashiku said, mentally cringing from the "Bad news" possibility. 'I hope anyway.....'  
  
"You have been payed handsomely for your discretion. But now I offer you a King's ransom for a new order of supply."  
  
"What would that be, my Lord?" Yasashiku questioned, already dreaming of the trip to Aizu he could take Aiko on with more money.  
  
"I want bombs, guns and cannons to supply our forces." Raidon said with the air of one requesting tea at a tea house.  
  
"Sir?!" Yasashiku gasped, fearing the implication.  
  
"You stock rifles, no?" Raidon said, raising an eyebrow once more, "Bombs can be made and cannons ordered. Is there a problem?"  
  
"But sir!" Raidon's eyebrow twitched. "To obtain a cannon would require much work and negotiation and-"  
  
"Enough!" Raidon said sharply. "I know the risk and I will pay you one million yen for one hundred rifles, one thousand bombs, half pineapple, half delayed explosion and ten cannons."  
  
"Sir?" Yasashiku asked, dazzled by the many zero's in that number, "so much?"  
  
"Why yes. This is war after all, no expense is to be spared for our utter victory." Raidon said with soft command, "You agree?"  
  
Yasashiku weighed the possibilities in his head. On one hand, taking the money would allow Aiko to tour Japan as she had wanted. However, cannons were hard to come by and ten impossible! Still, to see the joy on his daughters face......Yasashiku sighed, "I'll do it."  
  
"Excellent." Raidon said with a predatory grin. "I leave you to pray." With a flash of an explosion, Yuki Raidon exited the stage.  
  
Yasashiku stared after him as the clock struck the nine o'clock hour. 'What have I just done?'  
  
******  
  
Battousai watched the exchange between clear leader and terrified follower with morbid fascination. He had seen Yasashiku ascend the stairs and had followed him up under the cover of trees. He had situated himself in a large and ancient oak tree, just outside the shrine's grounds. From there, he could see the entire exchange, as well as the hidden warrior who watched the leader, Yuki. Battousai mentally laughed at the incompetence of the leaders warrior. He had not even noticed him when the full weight of his stare was focused on the larger bodyguard. The incompetence of the man never ceased to amaze the slender swordsman.  
  
No wonder they need me... Battousai thought with a secret smile.  
  
Refocusing on the men below, Battousai pieced together the man from the target information provided to him. Both tall and dark haired... Battousai thought contemplatively. Suddenly, the moonlight caught Raidon's eyes as he flashed his face in anger. red....not him then. So, it's the fool. Easy. Battousai leaned back in the tree to watch the exchange, noting with pleasure the terror in his targets eyes.  
  
'Battousai!' Kenshin's voice cut through his subconscious, 'why not target the leader? Then the war would end!'  
  
Fool. Battousai said condescendingly, Have you already forgotten the first rule of a samurai?  
  
'Of course not!' Kenshin replied indignantly, 'Always follow orders!' Kenshin mentally blinked and looked down, abashed.  
  
See. Besides, if Yamagata assassinated the leader first, the movement would fall to chaos, leaving it pray to a crueller leader and opening the door to desperate genocide. No, Battousai shook his head softly, the best way to destroy an organization like this is to remove the roots first; then it can't grow back.  
  
'Ah...' Kenshin breathed, amazed at the insight into the psyche he deemed forever bloodthirsty and cruel.  
  
What? Did you think I did this without thought? Battousai questioned, hurt, you wound me!  
  
Kenshin blinked. 'I was wrong.'  
  
Hmph! Take that mister I'm-so-high-and-mighty!-look-at-me-I-don't-kill! 'Hey!'  
  
Battousai abruptly broke off the internal dialogue as Yuki disappeared in a flashing explosion. Battousai blinked, how in all the hells did he do that? He's more dangerous than I gave him credit for....  
  
The assassin guarding Yuki left with the explosion, leaving Battousai free to work his bloody magic.  
  
See Kenshin, this man is willing to supply the Shinsengumi with deadly weapons for money. Don't try to defend him.  
  
Without waiting for his reply, Battousai moved silently from his tree to the large white birch by the archway. A swallow burst out of the tree, startling both Kenshin and Yasashiku.  
  
'A swallow...' Yasashiku thought uneasily, 'A harbinger of death...' With renewed haste, Yasashiku rushed toward the archway, pulling the folds of his gi closer around his muscular frame. He hadn't brought a sword, thinking it would insult the leader. 'What a fool I am!' He berated himself. "I must get home to Aiko, she must be worried sick by now." He muttered to himself, unaware that harbingers true warning was not merely symbolic.  
  
Battousai watched him approach the tree he crouched in. Thumb clicking his sword out of its lock, he tensed, waiting for the moment. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. So, this'll end everything....  
  
Yasashiku passed under the arbor of the tree.  
  
NOW! Battousai thought. With the grace of a cat, the vengeful assassin leapt down silently, just in front of Yasashiku.  
  
"For your crimes, I'm here to deliver Heaven's Justice upon your head." Battousai said, voice deadly in its icy softness.  
  
Yasashiku's eyes widened to impossible size. 'No!' He thought desperately. Battousai's sword flashed from its sheath, swinging in a deadly arc. Yasashiku was sliced from shoulder to waist before he had time to scream. The feel of flesh giving out beneath his blade gave Battousai a rush he hadn't felt in a long time. Yasashiku fell to the ground, face down, life rapidly leaving his essence on the staircase.  
  
"Ai....ko..." Yasashiku gasped. Battousai glanced down, eyebrows raised at his will to live. With clenched features, he drove the sword home through his neck, silencing that will forever.  
  
'NOOO!!!!' Kenshin's voice screamed out in his head. Kenshin fell to his knees within the chamber of his mind, tears of blood running down pale features from lifeless violet eyes.  
  
Battousai cringed at the sound of his alters anguish. I'm sorry....Kenshin. Battousai whisked the blood of his blade and placed the sword back in its sheath. The first kill in ten years. A promise thrown into chaos. A man never to be the same again.  
  
Battousai glanced up at the men scurrying to come clean up the mess. Fools, only scrambling for their reward.  
  
Amber eyes devoid of emotion glanced out at the city bathed once more in the light of the Killer's Moon. Clouds began to cover the city as a wolf's cry echoed into the distance. The era of new blood had dawned as the clear night became covered in blackened rage.  
  
On the night of the Killer's Moon, for the first time in ten years, Kenshin's scar began to bleed.  
  
TBC.....in Chapter 6: Shattered Mind 


	6. Shattered Mind

A/N: Angst busting ahead!  
  
Note: Many have asked, and yes, Battousai and Kenshin are more like two personalities in one person, think MPD. But I'm not trying to make Battousai the mindless killer, because I think he is basically a harder version of Kenshin. Otherwise, Tomoe would have died the night he saw Battousai fight. That's just IMHO of course.  
  
Anyway, reviews make me happy!  
  
Onward!  
  
Chapter 6: Shattered Mind  
  
Battousai watched the two men of the clean up squad running up the hill to fix up the mess and set it up for a proper message. He gazed at them with cold eyes, hating their ignorance and at the same time admiring it. Wanting their innocence and hating their naivete.  
  
"Battousai-san!" A man named Akira called out, "That was incredible! What speed!" He clutched the mop in his hand with fervor, gazing up at BAttousai like a god on a pedestal. One to be admired, gazed at, feared.  
  
"Yea, that was amazing!" Another called, Battousai didn't know his name.  
  
"No." Battousai said softly, "It wasn't amazing, it was murder." He looked calmly at Akira, staring into his eyes for the briefest of eternal moments. Sending the message to his young heart that following a god of war will only end in chaos.  
  
The men were silenced by the statement. Battousai looked into their eyes, seeing only fools in awe of violence and power, because they themselves feared it. Yet, looking into their eyes, he was reminded of Shinta, the naive, innocent child he had once been.  
  
Clenching his eyes shut, Battousai walked past the shell shocked men, blood soaked clothing catching the fading light and creating a bloody halo around his features. Blood of the past mingled with the future as the Bakumatsu's unrequited anger fell once more upon the heads of its children. Battousai merged with the night and was lost in the shadows of his mind.  
  
Behind his retreating form, Akira and the other began to slowly wipe the blood off the stairs. Akira took a note from his pocket and placed the yellowed parchment on the former weapon's dealer's chest. When all the blood was wiped from the stairs, the two men crossed Yasashiku's arms over his chest, holding the note in place. They left the blood on his body as a warning to all who decided that money could sway honor.  
  
As Akira and his partner ran off into the night to report back of the success, the paper caught the last ray of moonlight and fluttered in the coming breeze. Emblazoned on the yellowed paper were the words 'Heaven's Justice'.  
  
It had begun.  
  
*******  
  
"Ne, Sanosuke?" Kaoru asked softly, "He will come back, right?"  
  
"Aa." Sano replied softly. Physically at least.  
  
Sano, Kaoru and Yahiko sat around the low table in the central room of the dojo. The room looked out into the courtyard, the leaves on the trees blowing their leaves across the yard, making the night seem angry and wishing to cleanse itself of the sins of men and beast.  
  
"He'll come back, he always does!" Yahiko said vehemently. Previous fear of his hero long gone in the wake of long endured admiration. Blind faith was the hardest thing in the world to live up to, but yet one of the most durable forces to cross human consciousness.  
  
"Yea, he better come back or I'll kick his rurouni ass from here to China!" Sano said, punching the air. 'I can't let them see what I see. If their faith in him shatters, I don't know what would happen.'  
  
"Ah!" Yahiko cried out, pointing to the sky.  
  
"Nani?" Kaoru questioned.  
  
"Nan de da!?" Sano cried, jerking halfway to his feet. Gasping, he stopped, staring up at the red moon, features awash in the bloody light. "The Killer's Moon....." Sano breathed, eyes wide in shock and an almost fear.  
  
"What?" Kaoru asked, eyebrows drown down over worried blue oceans.  
  
"What are you babbling about, baka!?" Yahiko queried, anger hiding fear.  
  
"The Killer's Moon."  
  
"Yea, we know, aho! What about it!?" Yahiko cried, beaming Sano upside the head. Sano didn't even flinch his eyes remaining fixed on the bloodstained orb.  
  
"Sagara-taichou told me the legend of the Killer's Moon once," Sano said softly, finally breaking his gaze with the moon to scan his cinnamon eyes over his friends, "and then I saw it come true."  
  
"What are you babbling about, baka!?" Yahiko said, jumping up on Sano's shoulders and gripping his spiked hair, "Speak clearly!"  
  
Kaoru's face drained of all color. The Legend of the Red Moon.....her eyes widened in remembrance. "I've heard of it before." Karou said softly.  
  
Yahiko stopped his antics. "You have?" Yahiko looked between Sano and Kaoru, "no way a busu knows what this is when the great Myoujin Yahiko-sama doesn't know!!"  
  
Being surprisingly mature and ignoring Yahiko's antics, Sano nodded to her, "You would have, jou-chan, living in a kenjutsu dojo."  
  
"I remember being afraid of it, but not why." Kaoru said, vulnerable eyes gazing into Sano's. "Is it that terrible?"  
  
Yahiko stared. If Kaoru was afraid then it can't be a good thing.....  
  
"Aa." Sano said with finality. Pulling Yahiko off to set him on the ground, Sano clenched his fists and fixed his gaze on the ground, back to the red night, "I'll tell you the Legend of the end of days, the legend of the Killer's Moon."  
  
~~~~~~  
  
Before the dawn of time, the sun, the moon and the earth all lived together in the realm they had crafted for their use. The sun and the earth were brothers and each secretly sought after the goddess of the moon. The moon goddess was pale and demure, a perfect lady for a wife. However, she had promised been to the sun by the god of all things, the universal one, before the earth came into being, and thus was bound to him as his wife.  
  
This angered the earth god who desired the fair one. But, the earth god, through strong and powerful, was younger than the other two and had not had a chance to claim the moon goddess in the dawn of creation. As such, the god of the earth was bitter and angry at his elder brother, the sun.  
  
One night, the god of the earth alighted to the palace of the moon princess at the height of the night. The moon princess had long watched the young earth god, preferring to gaze at his gentle beauty rather than burn her eyes on the brilliance of the sun. She too desired him and on that night, while the sun slept, the earth and the moon joined as one and gave birth to the human race. Lying locked in the eclipses embrace, the earth and moon slept as their children first awoke on the earth.  
  
The sun awoke and was angered by this new development. He saw the humans and thought his brother to be conspiring against him to overthrow his celestial form. Angered, he stormed into the earth gods palace, and found nothing. He flew to the moon to use her lookout to scout the earths surface for the errant god. In his rage, he stormed into the love chamber of the earth and moon. Seeing them locked in passions embrace, he was blinded by hurt and rage. Drawing out his dagger, he slew the goddess of the moon and the god of the earth in one fatal strike, locking their spirits into the prison of eternal darkness. The blood of betrayal and unrequited love stained the moon red with devilish revenge. When his mind cleared, he was brought before the universal god and was sent to the pits of hell to atone for his crimes. In the pits of hell, the god of the sun festered in his rage. He used his time to interfere in the lives of the bastardized children of the moon and earth. Twisting them to his will, he forced wars and massacres to come down upon the land in endless waves. However, the great god soon caught on to this operation and chained the sun the sky. Thus, only when his rage becomes so great that he can escape his eternal bonds does he once more return to the moon to stain in red with blood. The red moon is the guide of killers, assassins and demons who plague the shadows of our world. When the red moon rises, it is known that the disgraced god has broken free to wreck his wrath upon the world, plunging it into darkness until the coming of dawn when the universal god will rise up and reclaim the god. However, the hearts of those that follow it remain blackened and are forever chained to his will, searching for blood to once more make the moon red. Only the purest force can force back the gods will. Thus is why so many people rise up after the killers moon to commit mass genocide. Simply because once they've tasted blood, they can't live without killing. Once a killer, always a killer.  
  
~~~~~~  
  
Silence followed Sano's rendition of the legend. Sano's face was downcast, eyes darkened by sorrow obscured under bangs of jagged earth. Kaoru stared at Sano, hand in front of her mouth to conceal her shock. She remembered now, the day she heard this tale. It was the day her father went off to war.  
  
~~~~~  
  
"Kamiya-san! Kamiya-san!" A local merchant cried out, "You must get away! The draft for the Seinan war is coming! You'll be killed!"  
  
"No." Kaoru's father stood tall and gazed out at the encroaching line that marked the draft. "What use is a sword if not to protect?"  
  
"Kamiya-san...." The merchant breathed.  
  
"Kaoru-chan." He called out gently to his young daughter, the pride of his life. "I must go to the hills my beloved child."  
  
"But, Father!" Kaoru began, cheeks flushed in anger.  
  
"No, I must go."  
  
"Father...." Kaoru said, eyes downcast, "what if you don't come back?"  
  
Kamiya looked down at the tearfilled eyes of his only daughter. "Kaoru, it is destiny. I chose the path of the sword and thus my fate is dictated by the Killer's Moon."  
  
"Father? What is that?" Kaoru asked, childish inquitiveness winning over sorrow.  
  
"It is the legend of how the sun slew the earth and moon in anger and was imprisoned by the universal god. He festers in rage and when he rises, blood stains the earth as it does the moon." Kamiya looked up at the encroaching night, "Kaoru, look at the moon tonight and remember what hatred brings."  
  
"Father..." Kaoru said, head bowed.  
  
"Goodbye my dearest." Kamiya said bending down to embrace his daughter. With a cry, Kaoru latched herself to his strong frame, hands grabbing fists full of thick cloth. She inhaled her father's scent: earth, wind and sweat.  
  
"I love you father!" Kaoru said tears streaming down fragile cheeks.  
  
"I know." Kamiya placed her down and pulled out his sword. "Stay with Gensai my beloved, I love you forever."  
  
Kamiya ran out the door and down the path to the draft. Kaoru watched him go, tears on moon white cheeks drying in nights chill. The merchant placed his hand on her shoulder and turned her in the direction of the town. He would take her to Gensai, it was the least he could do.  
  
Kaoru spun around and gazed at her father's retreating figure, topknot blowing in the wind.  
  
Kaoru never saw her father again.  
  
~~~~~~  
  
Yahiko gazed at the floor, young mind quieted by the sorrow in the room. Kaoru and Sano were lost in their own thoughts. With quiet determination, Yahiko rose to his feet.  
  
"Kenshin will come back! No stupid legend could beat him!" Yahiko cried out, "come on busu! Get up!"  
  
"Ya-hi-ko-ch-an......" Kaoru growled, rage winning over sorrow. Clutching her bokken she stalked toward the small samurai.  
  
"K-k-kaoru!" Yahiko chattered, backing away.  
  
Kaoru whacked him with her bokken, "hmph."  
  
Yahiko rubbed his head and smiled, 'I can't stand to see them sad...'  
  
Sano blinked, the laughed at the sight. "Good one Yahiko!" "What are you going on about, aho!?"  
  
"Nandemonai." Sano said smiling. Yahiko blinked.  
  
"Hmph." He huffed, nose in the air.  
  
Kaoru yawned, glancing at the clock in the hall. "Ah!" She gasped, "It's already ten o'clock!"  
  
"So?" Sano asked, bewildered.  
  
"Time to go to bed! We have to be up when Kenshin is back!" Kaoru cried out. She grasped Yahiko by the back of his shirt and flung him over her shoulder. She stormed down the hall and flung him into his room.  
  
"Sleep!" Kaoru commanded. Her face was blind in obsessive rage, Yahiko only nodded, muttering about crazy busu's under his breath.  
  
Sano sat in the main room, eyes wide as saucers. 'Kenshin deals with this every night?' Wincing at the bang and subsequent swear from jou-chan's room, he was suddenly reminded why he never slept here....that and he didn't want to embarrass himself in front of a certain samurai.  
  
Sano sighed when the sounds ceased to come from the rooms. He staggered to his feet and flopped down on the porch in full view of the door. He sat back, arms crossed and waited for Kenshin. 'I won't let you destroy yourself, Kenshin.'  
  
*******  
  
What begins with murder will end in tears. Katsura created him, Tomoe awoke his heart and Tomoe destroyed him.  
  
Kenshin stood in front of the gates of the dojo he had just a day ago happily called home. The sounds of joy lingered in the walls, laughter catching on the breezes of the approaching storm. The sky clouded with dark masses, closing off the Killer's moon and alighting the sky with thunder. Kenshin gazed up at the sign above the door, marking the Kamiya dojo of katsujin ken.  
  
"Katsujinken.....ka?" Battousai murmured, "The last place that a hitokiri should be."  
  
Sighing, Battousai pushed open the door and walked into the courtyard. Sano sat on the porch gazing at the darkening sky. He could sense Kaoru and Yahiko in their room, one sleeping, one restless. Both minds cloaked in sorrow.  
  
Battousai walked toward the well, intent on washing himself of the blood of Yasashiku. Sano, completely into his thoughts, did not discover to presence of the hitokiri, and the amber eyed man stalked through the shadows toward the well.  
  
'I must rid myself of the blood!' Kenshin wailed internally.  
  
Shut up, fool! You'll never get rid of it even when every bit is removed from your body, the blood will still remain!  
  
'No!'  
  
Yes  
  
As Battousai stood by the well, locked in internal dispute, the sky opened and cast their rage upon the earth. Thunder rolled through the sky, startling Sano out of his gaze. He spun toward the well, feeling Kenshin's presence in the darkening night. Lightning crashed, illuminating the bloodstained fallen angel that stood before Sano. He openly stared at the transformation the gentle rurouni had undergone.  
  
Amber eyes glimmered demonically in the lightning as blood dripped off blue cloth and stained the ground red. Sano stared into his eyes and Battousai gazed back at him, amber eyes flat on a face expressionless save the blood of vengeance dripping down pale cheek.  
  
"Kenshin..." Sano said softly, rising before the hitokiri. "You're bleeding."  
  
Battousai was shocked by the statement, and Kenshin even more. Rushing to the surface, Kenshin pushed Battousai back.  
  
Sano watched in amazement as flat amber became lamenting, pain ridden violet and tears gathered in the back of vulnerable eyes. Suddenly the man who stood before him was not an assassin to run before, or who brought the bloody rain; but a man to be held and comforted. A fragile soul seeking reason in chaos.  
  
"How can you be concerned with that!?" Kenshin whispered fiercely, eyes flush against the ground, fists clenched tight enough to draw blood. "I....I killed someone!"  
  
Sano was instantly at the rurouni's side as he collapsed onto his knees in the growing mud. Sano knelt before him, lightly placing a hand on his shoulder, wishing to embrace him, but fearing making him upset.  
  
'He doesn't even want to touch me anymore....' Kenshin's mind wailed.  
  
Of course not you fool! Battousai roared You're tainted now.  
  
"I am tainted....." Kenshin muttered aloud.  
  
"No!" Sano cried, grasping Kenshin by the shoulders and shaking his small frame ferociously, "You are anything but tainted. You would only be tainted if you sought it for pleasure!"  
  
"No Sano...." Kenshin murmured, rain mixing with the blood and running down his cheeks in tear like rivers. "Sessha....sessha wa.." Kenshin's voice cracked, "Sessha wa hitokiri."  
  
"Oh, Kenshin..." Sano sighed empathetically, gazing down at the broken creature in his hands. Throwing caution to the wind, he reached out and encircled Kenshin in his strong embrace. Kenshin stiffened against him chest, breath catching in his throat as is heart beat fluttered at super human speeds.  
  
'He touched me....he isn't afraid of being tainted?' Kenshin's awestruck voice rang in his head.  
  
"Never devalue yourself Kenshin." Sano said, squeezing the wanderer tightly, "you are the strongest man I have even known."  
  
Kenshin's chest constricted and the denied tears fell at last, making silver trails down bloody cheeks and seeping into Sano's rain soaked bandages. He shook in Sano's arms, clutching desperately to the man that was his life line. Sano wrapped his arms entirely around Kenshin and pulled the sobbing man into his lap. Bowing his head against the rain, he sat in the mud and held a sobbing Kenshin. "I'll never let you fall." Sano whispered into Kenshin's ears, "I'll catch you."  
  
Kenshin was shocked at the statement, 'how can he care about me? I am a killer! I'm worth less than dirt!'  
  
You're right. A killer is only a killer. A killer can't be loved!  
  
'But Sano..'  
  
He's lying  
  
"I'm not lying Kenshin." Sano said softly, as though he had read his thoughts, "you are the greatest man I've ever met. You're a warrior, and such a kind person....you deserve everything."  
  
The rain ceased its incessant pounding and the lights of dawn broke through the clouds.  
  
Glancing up at the sky, Kenshin sniffed and snuggled into Sano's embrace. "Arigatou, Sano."  
  
Sano smiled down at him. "Come on, let's go inside. You'll freeze in those clothes."  
  
"Aa." Kenshin murmured, sleep overcoming his mind in the aftermath.  
  
"Mataku...." Sano swore affectionately at the sight of the sleeping red head in his arms. He slowly stood, gathering the precious bundle against his chest and making his way into the dojo.  
  
'I'll never leave you alone in this, Kenshin. You may not want me, but I'll always be there.'  
  
TBC..... Chapter 7: Repercussions of the Past 


	7. Repercussions of the Past

Ok, Ok! Angst time and some more SanoKen developing!  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own them, but I do own a sword. Care to debate the former?  
  
Chapter 7: Repercussions of the Past  
  
It was a typical Meiji Tokyo morning. The birds were chirping and the sun was bright and shining. Shining right in Kenshin's eyes that was. Groaning softly, Kenshin sat up, hand reaching up to feel his cheek. It came away sticky with dried blood.  
  
'It wasn't a dream.....' Kenshin's eyes darkened staring down at his hands.  
  
'I remember, Sano, he...' Kenshin blushed at the memory, rapidly shaking his head. 'What I felt is not important.'  
  
You got that right. That was the most pathetic display I've ever seen! What if he were an enemy!? What then?  
  
'Sano isn't an enemy!'

Anyone who distracts you from completing your mission must be eliminated!  
  
'No! Its not like that anymore.'  
  
Oh? Battousai raised an eyebrow.  
  
'No! Now there aren't enemies around every corner!'  
  
But there are.  
  
'What?'  
  
Are you so naive!? The Shinsengumi have arisen again and their contacts could be anywhere!  
  
'But...'  
  
No buts! Your weak mind is of no use in this era.  
  
"OI! KENSHIN!" Sano's voice broke in from outside, startling the red headed rurouni out of his internal dialogue. "You awake?" Sano rapped on the door.  
  
"Aa." Kenshin said softly, violet eyes clouding with the pain of reality crashing in on fragile walls, 'not needed...' "coming." Looking around, Kenshin saw that Sano had removed his gi, leaving his in his hakama. Glancing down his saw the bloodstains covering the cloth and his bare chest, staining them with the evidence of his crimes. The voices of the damned rose in his head, drowning out reality. Accusing, beating, tearing, chasing. Red claws slashing through the glass of reality sending the wandering boat into the whirlpool chaos of the world torn asunder. Reality and illusion. Hate and apathy. Murder and protection. Whirling through the chambers of his mind, accusing him of crimes both past and present, sending his fragile mind into the depths of darkened confusion. Bile rose in his throat, revulsion at what he had done tearing his mind apart. Past and present collided. Back in the Tokugawa's twilight and in Meiji's darkness as well. One and the same, past and present, future and fatalism.  
  
Kenshin grabbed the bloodied gi, clutching it to his chest, darted toward redemption. Sano started as the small swordsman flung open the shoji screen and fled out the door.  
  
"O-oi! Kenshin!" Sano called after him, eyes wide open. 'Fast little guy...' Sano shook his head and raced after his shorter legged companion.  
  
Kenshin fled to the well, unbound red hair flying about his slender form. His bare chest was tinged pink by the blood soaking through his gi, making him seem a victim of abuse.  
  
Kenshin skid to a stop by the well, yanked the cover off, and pulled up the bucket with a vengeance. His shattered mind saw the demons of the slain in the wells depths, clawing him, calling out to him, accusing him for their deaths. Kenshin felt bile rise in his throat as hsi airway contracted.  
  
'I have to get the blood off!'  
  
It'll never come off.  
  
'It has to!'  
  
Kenshin dumped the bucket of crystal water over his head, the liquid creating red trails that flowed down his slender form. Kenshin felt the trails, looking down, seeing blood pooling at his feet, not water. Kenshin glanced down into the well, seeing the faces of the damned rallying behind a slender leader. The shroud over the leaders face fell away as the spectator gazed in morbid fear. 'Tomoe...' The face of love, betrayal, hope and despair. Leading the army of the damned against his soul.  
  
The demons in the well grew stronger, rising out to claw at his slender form, trying to pull him in. Blood running down his body, staining the ground with his shame. Kenshin fell to his knees, hands clutching his head. Hands covered in blood, shame dripping over pale digits, joining the malady of sin at his feet.  
  
Sano raced into the yard after the fleeing red head. He gasped at the sight of the once unshakable swordsman. Kenshin had never looked more the fallen angel than he did now. Hair framing his face and hiding his eyes, hands buried in the crimson locks, ripping and tearing at the tortured reality. Red tinged water soaking the ground beneath pale, clean body.  
  
"My hands are stained with blood."Kenshin's voice of the past rang in Sano's head. 'Oh Kenshin, what have you ever done to deserve such torment?'  
  
"Kenshin?" Sano said softly, "It's all off now, your clean."  
  
"No!" Kenshin whispered sharply, hands ripped away from his face as he spun to look up at Sano, "her blood will never leave..."  
  
Sano knelt down by the panicked red head. He reached out and pulled Kenshin's hands into one of his massive palms. "Kenshin."  
  
Kenshin looked up at him, seeing warmth radiating from his eyes. The demons of his mind shrunk form the light, only seeking to live in darkness born of the torment of an insane mind.  
  
Sano stared into Kenshin's eyes, noting with a pang of regret the blood that seeped out of his scar to join with his present, staining all there. "Kenshin, your hands are clean."  
  
"No," Kenshin said, looking away, "Her blood follows me wherever sessha goes."  
  
"Who's blood?" Sano asked gently.  
  
Kenshin glanced up and held his eyes in his tempest gaze. The storm within them slowly cleared. Demons gave way before the path of light. Truth would set him free, for now.  
  
"I'll tell you all together." Kenshin said steadily, voice dropping from hysteria to his usual smooth alto. "I couldn't repeat it twice."  
  
Sano smiled down at the now calm red head. "Wakata."  
  
Sano rose to his feet and pulled Kenshin up with him. Kenshin pulled away, gathering up his gi.  
  
"I'll do it." Sano said, reaching out and taking the garment. "I'll put it up to dry, Kenshin." Snao elaborated, "just get out of those before you get sick."  
  
Kenshin blinked. Then smiled gently. Not a large smile, not a fake smile, but a genuine Kenshin smile. Sano felt hsi heart warm at the precious sight.  
  
"Arigatou, Sano."  
  
Always Sano. No -san no-dono, just Sano. Sano smiled and turned to put Kenshin's small gi on the rack, as promised.

"Excuse me, ojou-san?" A tall man in a dark gi and hakama called out in a smooth tenor.  
  
"Yes?" Megumi answered, staring at the man whose voice sounded above all else in the marketplace, and yet he spoke in no more than a whisper.  
  
"Ojou-san, do you know the Kamiya dojo?" He asked, hands folded in front of him, eyes shadowed by ebony bangs.  
  
"Why?" Megumi asked, suspiciously. This guy was one to be cautious with.  
  
"Oh, do not worry miss!" The man said, had shooting up, earnest eyes shining out, "I mean them no harm!"  
  
Megumi stared into his eyes. This was a man who had never stained his hands, innocent? No. But not cruel. Megumi nodded her ascent, she believed this man.  
  
"I know it."  
  
The man sighed in relief. That was close.  
  
"Could you deliver this to them?" The dark man held out a letter, sealed with a signet.  
  
"Oh ho?" Megumi breathed out a startled laugh, famous wit returning. "You are unable to go that far?"  
  
The man smiled at her spirit. "A true Meiji, my Lady. And no, I am able. I just want to surprise an old friend."  
  
Megumi gave the man a small smile. "Alright. I'll do it." She grabbed the paper from his hand and placed it in her sleeve-pocket.  
  
"Thank you, ojou-san."  
  
"You're wel-" Megumi spun, looking for the man. He had vanished.

Kaoru and Yahiko sat around the kitchen table. Kaoru seething and Yahiko growing greener as he looked down at what was supposed to be breakfast. It just moved. That can't be normal.  
  
"I can't eat that busu!" Yahiko yelled in a rather strangled tone.  
  
Kaoru smiled maliciously at him. "You'll eat it, unless you want to starve that is."  
  
"I'd rather starve than die!" "Well if it's that bad why don't you cook!?"  
  
"I'm a kid! I don't know how! Besides, its women's work!"  
  
"WHAT!?" Kaoru yelled, whacking Yahiko with her bokken, "It is NOT women's work! Kenshin does it too!"  
  
"Are you implying Kenshin is a women?" Sano asked slyly.  
  
Kaoru and Yahiko spun around. "Sano!?" They didn't even hear him come! The top two of Kamiya Kasshin Ryu failed to sense him! The agony! The disgrace! The-how did he do that!?  
  
"How did an ape like you move so softly!?" Yahiko yelled, more surprised than angry.  
  
"I walked."  
  
Kaoru and Yahiko had the grace to look pained.  
  
"Anyway, Kenshin's coming now."  
  
"Kenshin ga!?" Yahiko started.  
  
"I'm going to kill him!" Kaoru bellowed, hand wrapped around her bokken.  
  
"I'd rather you not, Kaoru-dono" Kenshin's voice drifted melodiously in from his place behind Sano.  
  
Sano leapt out his skin in shock, Yahiko yelped and Kaoru gaped.  
  
"KENSHIN!"  
  
Kenshin raised his hands in mock surrender. "I'd like to hear on the morrow anata-tachi."  
  
Kenshin moved into the room, and the others were finally able to get a good look at him. Though his voice was light, his eyes were haunted and his face drawn in sorrow. He seemed smaller somehow, and more fragile than usual.  
  
"Kenshin." Kaoru said commandingly.  
  
"Hai, Kaoru-dono?" Kenshin squeaked.  
  
"Where is your shirt?" Kaoru's face tinged in a blush. Kenshin was only wearing threadbare peasant pants that looked at least ten years old and were a little short at that. The part that made her gape though, was the fact that he had no shirt on covering his pale chest.  
  
"It's drying.." Kenshin said softly, knowing the inevitable rant would happen, no matter what he said.  
  
Sano saw that Kenshin had no shirt on, as well as knew why. What made his eyes dim in empathatic sorrow was the fact that he could count the vertebrae in Kenshin's spine and the ribs surrounding his lungs. The form was muscular yes, but far too thin. In the night's darkness, he had been to concerned with the state of his friend's mind, and less with his physical state. However, the morning light brought a whole new element to preceptions. Sano knew of starving. He had often experienced it when he was just blossoming into a street fighters. However, to Sano, the thought of Kenshin starving was a thought to hard to bare, especially with Kenshin doing all of the cooking around the dojo.  
  
As for Yahiko, he saw the scars. The lines that marred his hero's body and told the story of battles and sacrafices and hidden wounds. He knew battle scars, but these were war scars. Deep and permanent scars that told of more than victory and defeat, they told of suffering. 'I may be young, but I've seen suffering.' Yahiko thought, head bowed. 'My mother taught that lesson well.'  
  
"Kenshin!" Kaoru wheedled, "If that shirt is drying, wear another one."  
  
"Demo-" Kenshin began.  
  
"No buts!" Kaoru roared, "It's not right for you to walk around like that!"  
  
"Kao-"  
  
"No! I thought your mother taught you better!"  
  
"I had no mother." Kenshin's voice broke in softly.  
  
Kaoru started. "No mother?"  
  
"No. And I have no more gi's either." Kenshin said matter of factly, distancing himself from the pain the topic of his past brought up.  
  
"Kenshin..." Sano breathed. His arms ached to hold the fragile man in his arms, however, he did not know how his actions would be received in the light of morning.  
  
Yahiko stood by the door, eyes wide as he gazed at his hero. 'I always knew Kenshin had it rough, but this? No mother?' Yahiko closed his eyes in sorrow, remembering the kindness of his own mother which had allowed him to persevere through his time in the Yakuza. The Kenshin's shining presence had retrieved him and he was brought out and taught the ways of protection and truth. 'How does he keep smiling every day?' Yahiko wondered, 'Is he even smiling? Or just contracting muscles to ease our fears?'  
  
"Kenshin?" Kaoru asked, rather abashed as she looked at the man before her. His eyes cast down to the ground, the sunbeam just hitting the side of his face, illuminating his alabaster skin and tipping his hair with gold. "Hai, Kaoru-dono?" Kenshin answered, eyes still on the ground. 'Will she hate me for what I have done?'  
  
"Why did you do it?"  
  
The simplest of questions had the most profound of answers. Kenshin flinched at the question, not wishing to share his darkness with any of them. Not wishing to stain their pure souls with the blood that followed him as a dark cloud.  
  
"Because it was the only way."  
  
"How could it be the only way!?" Kaoru screamed, face red in her anger.  
  
"I'll say it once more." Kenshin stated flatly, blank, amber eyes staring into her tempests, "you speak as one who has never bloodied her hands. With these people, there is no other way."  
  
"Kenshin...." Kaoru breathed.  
  
Yahiko stared at Kenshin in awe. Such strength concealed behind the fool's guise. Feeling Sano tense beside him, Yahiko glanced up, blinking at the rage Sano tried to conceal.  
  
He failed. "How can you say that Kaoru!?" Sano roared, "if there was another way, Kenshin would have used it, you know that!"  
  
"Sano..." Kenshin breathed, shocked, as his eyes softened to violet. He stepped forward, placing his slender hand on Sano's shoulder.  
  
Sano let out a dry gasp and folded over, clutching Kenshin to his chest. "It's not fair!" Sano chocked out, distressed, "you shouldn't have to suffer any more than you already have!"  
  
Kenshin sighed in his embrace, gently pulling from Sano's death grip. 'I don't deserve him.' Kenshin thought sadly, 'he has a strong heart and intense emotions running beneath the surface. I will only stain him...'  
  
"Kenshin?" Sano questioned as the man that he had held in his arms walked the door, staring out at the bright sky.  
  
Kenshin sighed once more, turning back to face them, loose hair catching the light and casting a bloody halo about his pale features. "You want to know why?" Kenshin asked softly, "that would take longer than I can handle."  
  
Sano appeared at his shoulder, hand covering his slender shoulder. "Tell us a part of it then." he urged soothingly, "you have to tell us or go beat something up, anything so its not all inside. But, the second one ain't your style so..."  
  
"Sano." Kenshin said softly. "Remember that nothing is what it seems." Silence permeated the room following the cryptic statement.  
  
'What the hell does that mean!!?' Sano questioned himself furiously.  
  
"What do you want to know?" Kenshin questioned the assorted three softly. "I'll answer to an extent anyway."  
  
"How did you get the scar?" Kaoru burst out with the most painful question strait off.  
  
"Kaoru!" Yahiko gasped, appalled. Even he knew that that question was over the line!  
  
Kenshin cast his eyes downward, bangs shadowing his face. Sano glared at Kaoru for causing Kenshin's pain, tightening his hand on Kenshin smooth shoulder.  
  
"I got it by killing her happiness." Kenshin started softly, eyes unfocused. "I killed her life and then I killed her."  
  
"Kenshin?" Sano asked gently, "are you alright?" The red heads actions were scaring him, the empty eyes drowning all joy that could arise from those same orbs.  
  
"Aa." Kenshin said softly, looking to the side.  
  
"Kenshin, you don't have to answer." Kaoru offered gently.  
  
"Yea, busu's question was over the line!" Yahiko said indignantly.  
  
Kenshin snorted with mirthless laughter. "No. I said I would answer. And answer I shall." Kenshin walked to the side on the room and leaned against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest. "I got the first line," Kenshin began, tracing the bleeding vertical line with a slender digit, "while on a mission. He was the bodyguard of my target....

:::::

"AAH!!" The dark haired young man yelled, charging the hitokiri. He had seen the old man, his fondly cared for charge and fellow guard die at the hands of this heartless killer! He charged blindly at the hitokiri, wishing he had more skills in the sword arts.  
  
'I can't die,' the betrothed man thought desperately, 'I have to live for her! I have to return to my beloved! She is waiting for me! We are to be wed!'  
  
Battousai stared dispassionatly at the man rushing for him. 'No skill at all.' Battousai thought, dismissing him as a threat.  
  
The swordsmen met in a flash of blade, Battousai far superior. The hitokiri sliced the man across his chest, severing flesh and bone that once made a man. 'Easy.' Battousai thought. Suddenly, he felt a sting on his cheek. Rapidly glancing to the side, Battousai's eyes widened as he registered that this man, this unskilled man, had sliced his cheek. It was a shallow cut, but it was the first time he had ever been hit.  
  
As the man's body fell to the ground, the pool of his blood rapidly spreading in the dirt streets of the embattled Kyoto. Battousai spun as the man he thought to be dead reached his hand out toward a white plum blossom that had fluttered to the ground, a light in the darkened streets of Kyoto.  
  
"Tomoe.." He gasped.  
  
Battousai gasped imperceptibly as a vison shook his mind. This man laughing, talking, playing....with a women of pale skin and ebony hair. This man working in the field for his wife, this man as he recieved the acceptance of his beloved's father. This man's wish to live...  
  
Battousai's sword sliced the night, rupturing the man's throat and ending his life. 'No more! I don't want to know about him!'  
  
Battousai barely registered that he was being spoken to. Not seeing who spoke, who spoke of this man exclaiming that his sword skills must have been phenomenal to hit Battousai...  
  
"No, his skills were nothing." The red haired hitokiri spoke, without registering what was said, "But his will to live was incredible."

:::::::

"After that night, this scar continued to bleed because he soul would not rest and could not forgive what I had done by stealing his life and future." Kenshin trailed off, gauging the reaction, seeing if continuing was wise.  
  
Yahiko sat shellshocked. 'All the rumors of Battousai....were true.' Looking at the forlorn figure standing against the wall, Yahiko could not imagine him comitting such acts. 'But, the way he described Kyoto, I never knew it was that bad....'  
  
Kenshin bowed his head, seeing the shock on Yahiko's face. 'I've stained him again...'  
  
Sano walked to Kenshin, standing before the former hitokiri, waiting for him to look up at him.  
  
Kenshin didn't look up.  
  
With a growl of frustration, Sano seized Kenshin's chin in his hand and forced the smaller man to meet his eyes. "Kenshin. None of that changes anything." Sano whispered to him, "it was the war, what could you have done? You mustn't let it haunt you." Kenshin looked up, a small hope born in his eyes once more.  
  
"Sano..."  
  
"How could you!?" Kaoru cried out, shocking Kenshin out of Sano's gaze. "How could you kill him!? He wasn't even your target! And he had a wife to go home to! Why?" Kaoru finished, anger and sorrow blinding her eyes. "Why..."  
  
Kenshin's eyes darkened in sorrow, her words raising all the doubts he had himself. All the nights he had tortured his mind, questioning over and over, what if? What if he hadn't killed that man? Would she still be alive?  
  
Kenshin clenched his eyes and walked out the door, slamming the shouji screen shut behind him. As soon as he was out of range of the room, he broke into a run, bolting to the gate. The sun glinted off his red hair and pale skin, contrasting the dark with light, past and future, plums and violets, swords and sticks, war and peace.  
  
Pathetic fool! Did you really think they would trust you!? Battousai's voice rang in his head, They'll never accept what you've done! No one will accept it!  
  
'I know! I KNOW!' Kenshin sobbed, 'I know...'  
  
Sano cast a dark look at Kaoru, "how can you say that!?"  
  
"I-" Kaoru stuttered.  
  
"Che!" Sano swore, racing out the door after Kenshin. He would deal with her later.

Yahiko stared after Sano. Looking up at Kaoru, he saw the image of the strong and fair woman shatter. Turning away, he raced after Kenshin. 'I'll do the right thing this time!'

Kenshin flew toward the gate, tears he refused to shed shimmering in his violet eyes. Out of nowhere, he felt strong arms enclose around his figure, holding him back from his escape.  
  
Kenshin immediately fought the arms, thrashing and writhing in a desperate attempt at freedom.  
  
"Shh....Kenshin, Kenshin. Calm down, it's me. It's Sano." Kenshin heard a soothing tenor make its way through his darkened and racing mind, chasing away the shadows of the past.  
  
Kenshin stilled in Sano's arms, breath heaving as he fought to keep down the sobs. They had been the first to accept him, the first to say his past didn't matter...but now. Now, they rejected him, were angry and appalled by his past actions. He didn't know which hurt more.  
  
Sano held the red headed samurai as he calmed, waiting patiently as he breathing returned to normal as he stilled in his arms.  
  
"Sano, thank you." Kenshin whispered, "You saved me again."  
  
Sano blinked. "I saved you? But you're always getting me out of trouble and savin' my sorry ass!?"  
  
Kenshin chuckled softly, Sano warmed to hear the gentle sound. "But you saved me from myself."  
  
Sano tightened his hold on the smaller man, "I'll never let anything harm you again, I promise."  
  
"Sano..."  
  
"KEN-SAN! KEN-SAN!" A voice broke through their peaceful moment as the gate of the dojo was slammed open, revealing a ebony haired women of the beauty of a fallen goddess. "Ken-san! Where are you?"  
  
Sano sighed in exasperation, releasing his hold on Kenshin. "Fox Lady."  
  
"Oh! There you are Ken-san." Megumi said knowingly, having seen the compromising position. She had known long ago that no woman would ever have her Ken-san. But, she would keep fighting Kaoru with that knowledge until the violent little girl figured it out on her own. "And the rooster too, how pleasant."  
  
"Fox..." Sano growled.  
  
"Down boy." Megumi dismissed Sano and directed her gaze at Kenshin, "Ken- san, I have something for you."  
  
Kenshin closed his eyes for a brief instant and opened them once more, rurouni smile fully in place under shining, empty eyes. "What is it that brought you here on this beautiful day, Megumi-dono?"  
  
Megumi felt her heart tug seeing the way Kenshin lied to the world, she just hoped this wasn't more bad news. "A man asked me to give you this letter." Megumi said, pulling the yellow paper out of his sleeve-pocket. "An earnest man, otherwise I wouldn't have done it."  
  
"Arigatou de gozaru, Megumi-dono." Kenshin said brightly, taking the letter.  
  
Turning over the yellow parchment, he froze, eyes darkening to ice as he stared down at the mark on the parchment. Fate and destiny played him a cruel hand as the epic battle between war and peace came to Kenshin in the form of an innocent carrier.  
  
Kenshin dropped the letter from lifeless fingers as his empty eyes stared off into space.  
  
The letter on the ground read 'Katsura'.  
  
To Be Continued....  
  
Coming Next! Chapter Eight: A Leader of Men 


	8. A Leader of Men

A/N: Sorry this took so long! Enjoy! REVIEW please! They help a lot!

Chapter Eight: A Leader of Men

Kenshin stood, staring off into empty space, wars waged ages ago returning to him in flashes of remembrance. The feel of a blade tearing through flesh, the screams of the chased, the blood of the damned dancing a fatalistic rhythm inside his fragile mind as Battousai laughed at his plight.

Ignoring the concerned gazes of Sano and Megumi, Kenshin bent to pick up the innocent paper that held the devil's message. Clenching it between his pale fingers, Kenshin ripped open the letter and read the words through a haze of amber.

_The dead will rise to life when the task unfinished calls._

The letter ended on that mysterious note that meant nothing to the innocent eye and everything to those who had fought and died for a man with clean hands in the chaos of Kyoto.

__It's not over

Battousai's voice sounded once more in Kenshin's head as the gentle rurouni sank into the comfort of oblivion, leaving the triumphant hitokiri in the forefront.

"Game over." The amber eyed demons voice shattered the tense silence, "I win."

"Kenshin!" Sano bellowed, "what the hell does that mean? What did you win?" Frantic concern expressed itself as anger as the former gangster roughly interrogated his friend. Megumi scowled at the younger man, placing an arm out, stopping his tirade with a sharp glance.

"Ken-san?" Megumi asked, concern coloring her voice, "did I bring you bad news?"

"No." Battousai said, feral grin gracing his pale features. Sano started at the evil tone in the small man's voice. "This message spelled the end for that pathetic fool."

"Battousai!" Sano growled, "how did you come out!?"

"Simple." Battousai said, with the tone of one deliberating whether or not to crush the insect before them. "I told him it wasn't over."

"Told him WHAT wasn't over!?"

"Bakumatsu no Doran." A smooth tenor graced the air, coming from the dojo wall.

"Who the-" Sano began.

"You're the man from the market!" Megumi exclaimed in shock, hand covering her mouth in feminine modesty. "The one with the message!"

"Yes." The man said, earnest brown eyes clouded by an unrecognizable emotion, "I thank you for your kind compliance with my desire."

"Katsura-san." Battousai said respectfully, yet with an undertone on insolence, "why aren't you dead?"

The man, now identified as Katsura, blinked. Laughing, he gazed down at the amber eyed Battousai. "I see time hasn't dulled your tongue, Himura!"

_Tak! Tak!_

Battousai glared back at him, amber eyes flashing under bangs stained red by the blood of thousands.

_Tak! Tak! Tak!_

'Good.' Katsura sighed inwardly, 'it worked. Now it will be Battousai doing the killing and not the innocent soul I shattered.'

_TAK! TAK! TAK!_

Footsteps pounding down the indoor corridors are a bad background for serious thought, Katsura registered dimly.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!?" A voice screeched out across the dojo grounds, startling Katsura out of his thoughts.

Katsura started, staring at the image of a small warrior holding out a bokken to challenge him. Katsura smiled. He'd seen that spirit before, that honest and yet reckless desire to do good, in the soul of a red haired boy he had first seen obliterating a log. But, Katsura vowed, this pure spirit would not feel the weight of a killer's sword, nor would it taste the pain of lost hope.

"I am Katsura Kogoro." Katsura said imperiously.

"Who?" Yahiko said, cluelessness shining on his face.

Katsura smiled, that was not a typical reaction.

"God! Read a paper would you!?" Sano said, exasperation coating his smooth tenor. "He's the leader of the Ishin Shishi in the Bakumatsu!"

Still blank.

"Kenshin's captain!"

"WHAT!! I thought you were dead!" Yahiko said, covering embarrassing surprise with rapid interrogation.

Megumi simply stared out at the scene, horror tinging her vision.

This was the war that killed her family.

This was the thinking that made an innocent boy an assassin.

This was happening again.

"I'm sure there's some fabulous reason why he can go against all laws of nature." Battousai drawled, arms crossed over thin chest, the hilt of the killing blade resting against his left forearm.

Yahiko stared. That was not Kenshin. "You aren't Kenshin..."

"Brilliant deduction." Battousai said dryly, "I'm you're worst nightmare."

Yahiko drew back, sticking a finger in his ear, "No, your just Kenshin with attitude."

Battousai blinked.

Katsura burst into peals of laughter.

Megumi was torn between horror and hysterics.

Sano.....agreed with him. "Yup. That sounds about right."

Battousai's eyebrow twitched.

"Yeah. He looks the same..." Yahiko started.

"Sounds the same..." Sano continued.

"Except he's about as agreeable as a poisonous snake that's been stepped on..."

Battousai glared.

"And he has creepy eyes...."

"Oi!" Battousai said crossly.

"And talks like an arrogant teenager.."

"He's still short enough to be...."

"OI!" Battousai growled, eyes flashing in his anger.

"So..."

"It must be..."

"BATTOUSAI!!!" Sano and Yahiko finished in unison, crowing happily in shared immaturity.

"Are you quite finished?" Battousai growled, malice fairly dripping off his voice.

Sano and Yahiko glanced at each other and decided that continuing could be hazardous to their respective healths. "Yeah."

"Good."

Katsura was still laughing.

Battousai glared at the audience surrounding the argument. Seeing the hopelessness of the argument, the small warrior huffed and threw his hands up into the air. "I give up..."

Feeling the stares on his back, Battousai whipped around, "WHAT!?"

"You....uh....seem..." Yahiko started.

"Yes...?" Battousai drawled with annoyance.

"Different." Sano concluded.

"I'm no different than I always have been." Battousai conferred icily.

"No, Himura, you have changed." Katsura broke in, finally ceasing his laughter. "You're calmer, less of an anal retentive bastard."

"I am not anal!" Battousai yelled back.

"Yes you are!" With affirmation coming from all sides, Battousai glared up at the sky, refusing to grace the conversation with his attention any longer.

"At least I'm not going against all natural law!" Battousai roared, pointing up at Katsura. "How are you still alive anyway!?"

"Who, me?" Katsura said, feigning innocence. At Himura's glare he smiled lightly and continued. "I never died."

"But reports of your death were sent throughout the country..." Battousai said, a slight purple tinge in his eyes as the news baffled him, "how?"

"Who better to protect the peace than a dead man?" Katsura stated simply.

"What the hell does that mean!?" Yahiko broke in.

"It means that he wanted to be able to make sure that the idiots ruling the country didn't mess up without having to become one himself or having to watch out for assassins around every corner!" Sano brutally elaborated.

"Oh."

"You do have a brain in there..." Megumi mused. "Pity."

"Why you!" Sano started.

"Moving on." Katsura broke in, sobering the atmosphere. "Himura, will you help you help us bring back heaven's justice?" Katsura stared down at Himura, their gazes locked in the battle for the past.

Sano started, 'No...not again!'

The crimson haired warrior lowered his gaze.

"No." Battousai stated firmly, head bowed.

"What?" Katsura gasped.

"I will help you destroy the Shinsengumi and bring hell's justice in my wake."

Katsura closed his eyes in remorse. "Very well." Turning to the outside, he called back. "You know the signal."

Battouosai nodded and spun around as well, stalking into the dojo in the direction of his room.

Sano, Yahiko and Megumi remained outside as the day faded into night. Each lost in their own thoughts as they remembered what the last war had cost them and wished not to pay the price twice over.

ORO?ORO?ORO?ORO?ORO?ORO?ORO?ORO?ORO?

Katsura walked down the path to the old inn on the far side of town. Moonlight shimmered through the leaves as he moved as a wraith through the night.

The man who had stared him down tonight and sworn to complete the revolution, was a far cry from the small youth he had met in the rain with the Kiheitai.

Katsura thought back to that day, remembering how the small boy had stepped out from his turn on the log like an avenging angel, slashing the log in two with his divine fury.

It was at that moment that Katsura saw victory.

A boy with the power to change the world.

A man who would guide him to it.

A soul to be damned.

A promise to never kill again.

A friend left to die.

That night would be forever emblazoned on his memory.

Shaking himself from his revere as he reached the old inn, Katsura knocked on the door.

Once.

Twice.

Thrice.

The door opened, casting a patch of candlelight out onto the dusty ground as it was flung open to allow the commander entrance. A tall woman stood in the kitchen, kimono wrapped tightly around her elderly frame. Her eyes, black as the depths, stood in stark contrast to her gray hair and blazed in furious understanding.

The woman was Takani Ayaka. Hidden for all the years since the battle of Aizu, the famous lady-doctor, mother of Takani Megumi, was once more in the revolutionary spirit, housing Katsura and his men in her halls and feeding them with her hands.

Ayaka owned the Kame inn, the inn that was hidden in the secrets of Tokyo and Aizu. She had bought the small, green painted inn when she had escaped from Aizu. Hearing of Megumi's apprenticeship to a doctor of repute, she rushed to see her daughter. However, at learning the man was a tool of Kanryuu, Ayaka stepped back and let her daughter continue alone. News that Megumi was the Takani daughter of Aizu would put her in undo danger, so she sat back and she waited.

Katsura sighed, "Takani-san?"

"Yes?" Ayaka replied measuredly.

"Is the puppeteer here?"

"In the theater."

Katsura nodded and bowed respectfully to the aged doctor, who returned the bow. Smiling bitterly, he turned and swept off to the 'theater'.

Entering the dark room, Katsura struck a candle and softly illuminated the red curtained room with its flickering light.

Yamagata Aritomo was sitting in the center of the room.

Katsura walked up to him and bowed before dropping into the seat next to the 'puppeteer'.

"How did it go?" Yamagata asked after a period of silence.

"It could have gone better." Katsura replied, head in his hands. 'I don't want to do this again!'

"He didn't agree?" Yamagata questioned sharply.

"He agreed to trail Hell's Justice in his wake. He refused to see the cause as noble." Katsura's distress colored his voice.

Yamagata sighed heavily. "Himura-kun...why must you always make everything so difficult?"

"He still bears the burden of Kyoto and refuses to let it go! No matter the cost to his soul!"

"I am aware of that." Yamagata said calmly, "He has become two separate people: Himura Kenshin, rurouni and peacelover and Hitokiri Battousai who hunts the night as sport and kills for a living."

"I did this to him." Katsura stated it as a fact.

"Yes."

"I made a child a murderer."

"Yes."

"I damned a young soul."

"Yes."

"For what!?" Katsura broke out in anger. "For my ideal!?"

"Start thinking like that and the Shinsengumi will win and the shogun will rise again!" Yamagata replied vehemently.

"But, I destroyed the life of a child!"

"Yes, and in doing so you have saved us all."

Katsura and Yamagata fell to silence, contemplating the man they rested their fates on.

Suddenly, a man burst into the room, bowing hastily, he blurted out: "Katsura-sama! The Shinsengumi have just attacked! A battle has erupted in downtown Tokyo!"

Katsura and Yamagata leapt up from their seats, grabbed their swords and raced into the night.

To Be Continued.....

Coming up next!:

Chapter Nine: Preemptive Strike


	9. Preemptive Strike

Chapter Nine: Preemptive Strike

Yuki Raidon looked out across the sea of green and white that was his Shinsengumi, the blood of the rebellion against the false government. He smiled slightly as he cast his gaze on every face.

Satisfaction covered his expression. . .until he reached the spot where his second in command, Uesugi Kyoshiro, stood.

Where Saitou Hajime should have stood.

Raidon snorted in disgust, remembering the scene where Saitou had turned him down with a simple, contemptuous 'no' and a flick of his cigarette before vanishing into the night, as if he and the Shinsengumi were no more than the dust covering his shoes.

Raidon smiled ferally, 'now is the time to kill that presumptuous former captain...'

"Shinsengumi!" Raidon cried out, his voice rolling over them and inflaming their bloodlust, "tonight is the night when we begin it all! Tonight we will strike fear in the hearts of the Meiji government!"

Raucous shouts greeted his speech and echoed into the forest glade. Secluded and yet close to town, the perfect spot to plan an attack. The red eyed man grinned, the police are too stupid to notice something this obvious!

"Men! Today we attack! No matter who opposes you, remember that you are fighting for the shogun! Have no fear in the heat of battle!"

Shouts fell to silence as the men nodded solemnly and stood at attention.

Raidon glanced up at the moon, 'high night...'

"It is time! To battle!" Raidon bellowed and led his troops silently toward Tokyo.

Megumi, Yahiko and Sano stood as the last light faded from the sky, contemplating the future and the repercussions of the past.

"It's started." Sano stated bluntly, no hint of his usual idiocy.

"Yes." Megumi agreed.

"Aw, stop looking like your lover died!" Yahiko crowed, landing a flying kick on Sano's skull, "Kenshin won't let anything bad happen!"

"And how will he stop it?" Sano yelled back, "once people want to kill they will and they'll drag anyone and everyone else in with them!"

"Kenshin will stop them!" Yahiko yelled back, conviction in a hero coloring his voice.

"But that man is not the Ken-san we know." Megumi stated calmly, "that is Hitokiri Battousai, the man that will kill without a second thought!"

"No." Sano rebuked, "he kills those he is ordered to kill."

"Is that any different?" Megumi retorted icily.

"Yes." Sano answered, staring into her onyx eyes, wishing her to understand. Standing in the last rays of the sun, Sano looked every bit a young patriot, inflamed with passion and willing to risk it all. Sun tipped his chocolate hair gold and tinted his golden skin red, casting an ethereal aura about him, different and the same as Kenshin's. Sorrowful and determined they shared, the bloodlust was purely Sano's anger. "It means he doesn't want to but he does."

Yahiko was stuck silent, realizing for the first time how far below these men he was. His pride in his father was nothing compared to the true sacrificial actions of these two men.

"Kenshin will kill for them?" Yahiko asked softly, "but not to save himself?"

"No." Sano said calmly, "he truly believes that he is not worthy of being saved."

"WHAT!?" Yahiko yelled incredulously.

"How could he?" Megumi cried distressed, "he gives so much to us all!"

"What were you going to do to escape your past?" Sano questioned intensely, staring into her eyes. "As you held that knife in your hand, did you feel you had any worth? Did you relish in the thought of ending it all?" Sano looked away, gazing down the path Kenshin had left on, "no, Kenshin lives for us and at the same time wishes to die." A feral grin struck out across his face as he sharply glanced over to the shadows of the dojo eaves, "Isn't that right, Kaoru?"

Kaoru, that was it, not jou-chan, never again would she be jou-chan. Kaoru stepped out into the night, walking forward within a few feet of the assembled. "Yes."

"And you made it worse." Sano stated coldly.

"Yes." Tears started to form along her eye lines.

"And you will do it again."

"No!" Kaoru cried, staring imploringly up into Sano's hard gaze, "no, never will I do that again...I couldn't, not after I saw his eyes tonight...they were resigned and determined at the same time, but most of all, they held incredible sadness..."

Sano's eyes narrowed, she understood at least, but that was not enough for him to forgive her just yet. "Hm." Sano nodded to her and turned away, moving in the direction of Kenshin's room.

As Sano vanished into the hallway, Kaoru turned to her friends and, locked in their gaze, clasped her hands together and prayed for the safety of Kenshin's soul.

XXXXXX

"How did they regroup so quickly?" Yamagata panted as he ran with Katsura toward the outskirts of town that held the bunkers for their soldiers.

Gathered from the remains of the Ishin Shishi, as well as newer soldiers that were loyal to Meiji, the defense army was secretly gathered and housed on the southern border of Tokyo. All were outfitted in the gray hakama and blue gi of the Revolution, and all carried katana; none could bear to carry the weight of a new age rifle.

"Simple. They never stopped hating Meiji and never lost their skills." Katsura breathlessly replied, "to Yuki Raidon, or rather, the alias the former first division captain has assumed, it was a simple matter of collecting them in one spot and finding an arms dealer foolish enough to supply them."

"Then it was simply a matter of time..." Yamagata mused sadly, "we should have seen this coming."

"Why do you think I died?" Katsura asked seriously, "I knew this would happen. I just wish that Himura did not have to return to the past with us..."

"I wished the same, my friend, I wished the same."

Pulling roughly to a halt outside the bunker, they paused to catch their breath before bursting into the room, patriotism and valor blazing.

"Soldiers of Meiji! Awaken!" Yamagata cried out.

"Rise up and meet the challenge laid out before you!" Katsura continued, voice emboldened with belief in his cause.

The soldiers leapt up from their futon's, hands clenched around the swords they kept by their beds. Grabbing their blue gi's off the floor, the soldiers pulled the heavy fabric over their tanned chests, tucking them into their hakama, so only the top part gapped open in the evening breeze. Spinning to face Katsura, the soldiers held their swords out before them and bowed to their leader, faces darkened with purpose and the night's cold heart.

Cloaked in the inn's darkness, Katsura stood forward to address the soldiers. The light of his pure leadership untainted by blood allowed even the calmest to be roused to fight and the rowdiest to be calmed by his serene air.

"Soldiers of Meiji," Katsura began softly, voice infused with passion and the calmest of rages, "long have we expected and awaited this day. This day, the day when we will rise up and greet the challenge that we pushed back but failed to defeat in the last war. Remember now, you are soldiers who must defeat the threats laid out before you, but you are not alone!"

The soldiers glanced up at this, confusion and suspicion ringing many an aura and dark eye.

"We have two powerful allies on our side in this fight." Yamagata said sternly, "One whom we know and another, a reformed enemy of the darkest persona and most straightforward outlook."

"We speak of course of Himura Battousai," Katsura began, ignoring the stifled gasps and outright looks of horror, "and Saitou Hajime."

"Saitou!?" One soldier, a boy named Kagoshiro, exclaimed, "he's Shinsengumi!"

"Silence!" Yamagata commanded. "You know not of what you speak. Saitou has served Meiji for many years as an invaluable part of out undercover forces. In fact, he played a key role in the downfall of Shishio!"

Kagoshiro looked down, abashed and moderately chagrined.

"Anyone else care to question my judgement?" Katsura asked venomously, he didn't have time for this, "Anyone?"

The remaining soldiers were silent. Cowed by Kagoshiro's cutdown, fearful of Saitou's wrath and paralyzed by the thought of Battousai, let alone an angry one.

"Good."

Glancing around at the soldiers, Yamagata and Katsura nodded to each other, understanding passing between them that Katsura could not fight, could not draw blood, could not break his penance for Himura's soul.

As Yamagata led the soldiers silently out into the night, Katsura stood to the left of the door, letting them pass. However, as Kagoshiro, the pale haired insolence personified ran by, Katsura grabbed him in a vice like grip and pulled him back.

"Sir?" Kagoshiro said, voice trembling in remote fear.

"I have a job for you Kagoshiro-kun." Katsura said silkily, staring down at the smaller warrior.

Kagoshiro did not think he was going to like this.

"You will deliver a letter for me-"

Kagoshiro sighed in relief.

"-to Hitokiri Battousai." Katsura finished evilly, using the full name to give the young man the proper fear inducing punishment for his cheek. Insubordination could not be allowed in this critical period.

"What?!" Kagoshiro blanched, face losing all semblance of color.

"Is there a problem?" Katsura asked coldly, vindictively reminding the soldier why he was a revolutionary leader.

"He'll eat me!" The boy began hysterically, "or crush me! Kill me! Or-"

Katsura raised a hand and slapped the hysterical man across the cheek.

Kagoshiro raised a pale, calloused hand to his face, wishing he was running to town with the others rather than be here with an angry general. 'Mother was right...I should have been a fisherman...'

"Never! I mean NEVER insult Himura Kenshin as you did just now!" Katsura growled coldly, "he is ten times the man you'll even be!"

Kagoshiro nodded quickly.

"Good, now take my letter and go!" Katsura commanded, handing the folded parchment to the young man, who hastily slipped it inside the pocket of his gi, rather wishing to lose his own leg than this letter. "Do not leave without his agreement!" Katsura commanded harshly, "Am I understood?"

Kagoshiro nodded quickly, not trusting himself to speak without embarrassing himself further.

Katsura narrowed his eyes, appraising the young man before him. 'Spine of an invertebrate...'. His disgust was almost palpable as he flung open the door and shoved the man out into the night.

"Get out of my sight!"

Kagoshiro ran off, wanting nothing more than to escape the piercing eyes of his commander. Kogoro both terrified and inspired him; terrible in his anger and paternal in his leadership, this man was all he aspired to be and to please.

"Do not disappoint me." Katsura's voice floated to him on the evening breeze.

No, Kagoshiro thought, that was the last thing he would ever aspire to do.

XXXXXXXX

"Kenshin?" Sano gently called out as he leaned lightly against Kenshin's door.

Kenshin stood in the middle of the room, staring blankly at the wall. Katsura Kogoro, the man responsible for his madness, for his guilt, for his suffering; was back. He was back as if nothing had changed. As if he were still the leader of the Ishin Shishi who had paid passivity for a chance to soak a young warrior in an age's blood. Clenching his violet eyes shut, Kenshin rubbed his hands together, fighting to rid the blood that was overlain there by his torn mind. His breathing increased as voices swirled around his head, overwhelming his senses, sending him into a whirling cacophony, ripping through his psyche:

_Murderer..._

_Demon....._

_Get back! Get back!_

_Please don't hurt me!_

_Save my baby!_

_No! No!_

_Run! It's Hitokiri Battousai! The hitokiri is here!_

_Get away from us!_

_Leave us alone!_

_Kill them all!_

_Blood on snow._

_Blood on his hands._

_Blood on his sword._

_Blood...._

_So much blood...._

_Whose blood was it?_

_It's so red....why is it so red....?_

_Blood on white plum._

_Red and white cloaking...._

_Blood...._

_Her blood...._

"TOMOE!!!" Kenshin yelled, hands clasped over his ears, eyes screwed up to shut out the sights, the sounds, the memories...

_Massacre._

_They're all dead!_

_He must have had great skill to cut Battousai!_

_Blood...._

_Murderer..._

_Run! Run away!_

_The heart can betray..._

_No, but his will to live was incredible..._

_But the sword never lies_

_Demon...._

_Devil....._

_Hitokiri...._

_Why? Why did you kill them?_

_Father!_

_Mother!_

_My baby! Save my baby!_

_Cries of the damned never cease..._

_You did this?_

_Why?_

_What did we ever do to you?_

_Monster!_

_Inhuman!_

_They're all dead...._

_Run!_

_Blood on her face..._

_No! It's Battousai!_

_Blood on his hands...._

_Damn him!_

_So many faces...._

_A whole squadron..._

_So much blood...._

_Murderer..._

_Demon...._

"No!" Kenshin cried, falling to the floor, "No! Stay away!"

_Evil incarnate..._

_Murderer...._

_Demon...._

_Why?_

_So much blood..._

_Why did you kill them?_

_Too much blood...._

_Why did you kill my family?_

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Kenshin cried, tears running in rivulets down his pale cheeks as he tore at his hands and wrists, his own blood mingling with the slain.

"Kenshin!" Sano yelled frantically, "Kenshin! Open the door!"

Kenshin stared at the door, tortured eyes wishing for him to come and begging for him to leave.

_You'll taint him..._

_You destroy everything you touch..._

_Demon!_

_Hell Child!_

_Blood..._

The door splintered as Sano crashed through it.

_You'll kill him too..._

_No...._

_Why?_

_Too much blood...._

_They're all dead...._

"Kenshin!" Sano cried as he rushed to his friend's side, gathering his shaking frame in his arms.

"Kenshin..." Sano whispered, trying to soothe his frantic friend. "You're alright, you're safe." Sano's eyes darkened as he saw the blood running down Kenshin's hands and wrists. Slowly, he grasped Kenshin's small hands in his own, bringing them to his chest as he enveloped the small man in his embrace. "Come back to me Kenshin...nothing can hurt you now."

Kenshin felt the madness calm around him, anchoring himself to the soothing sounds he heard. He relaxed into Sano's embrace, feeling the strength and the warmth of one who loved him, no matter what. Kenshin slowed his breathing and lifted his tear streaked face to look into Sano's calm brown eyes.

"Sano?" He whispered hoarsely.

"Yeah Kenshin, it's me."

Kenshin smiled slightly, eyes thanking him.

Sano tightened his grip on the small warrior as he felt him falling asleep, worn from the rush o_f _adrenaline.

"Sleep now Kenshin," Sano whispered as he gently picked the red haired warrior up and tucked him into his bed, lowering himself down to sit against the wall beside him, "I'll protect you now."

To Be Continued...

Coming Soon!

Chapter Ten: Downtown Battle


End file.
